


Befriending an Existential Being

by Lyka_Mandia



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: A Rather Bleak Outlook on Humans, Bill in a Jar, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Getting to Know Each Other, Human Bill Cipher, M/M, Past Lives/Past Timelines, Rather helpless and hopeless Bill, Reality Dissociation, Slow Build, Soul Binding, Time Shenanigans, Triangle Bill Cipher, Violence, capture bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-27 11:40:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 46,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10018934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyka_Mandia/pseuds/Lyka_Mandia
Summary: To say the very least, living in a jar while surrounded by your enemies isn't a fun way to live, not when you're powerless and helpless, confined in a glass house that can be shaken by humans for the heck of it.This is what Bill gets for trying his hand at revenge, this is also what he gets for playing with time and if anything, he's only learned that the Pines family were ruthlessly determined.What's worse is that Pinetree had been alarmingly gentle towards him after his capture, despite what he has done to the awful human being. It was sickening and if he could... he'd RESET this game as well.





	1. Reset

How many human years has it been since his defeat? How  _ long _ , has it been since he had seen something other than the white  _ nothingness _ he was trapped in? He couldn’t tell, not that he cared about  _ “time” _ as the concept was made by humans to comfort themselves with the idea of passing and progression. But, now he had become desperate for this comfort. No sound penetrated the pure whiteness, the demon himself, couldn’t create noise in the vacuum he was stuck in. Bill  _ woke _ up to nothing, he has been alive for however long he was being trapped. Nothing to entertain him, nothing to do, nothing to ascertain his existence. He may have been conscious, somewhat bordering the definition of “living”, but the demon himself felt dead. After attempting  _ everything _ to escape or entertain himself, the desperation going as far as self-destruction, ripping out his own eye, tearing at his own limbs, shredding his hat and rebuilding it in a constant cycle. All of this did nothing to him. 

He felt nothing.

Barely alive, trapped and mentally dead. He floated there, waiting for something, if  _ anything,  _ to happen. Heck, the demon was even willing to accept “death”, disappearing,  _ escape _ .  _ Anything  _ from this blinding hell he was subjected to. After another stretch of nothing, passed by unnoticed and unappreciated. Bill finally saw something.

At first, it was a rush of colors, undiscernable colors rushing by him. He sat there, admiring the shades, that was before it started to form images, images of humans and creatures he had once known. Images of older versions of  _ enemies _ he had once fought. It took awhile, but the demon finally registered what was happening. With the realization, Bill laughed, and oh was it glorious to hear his own voice, for the first time in what felt like a millennium of absolute silence. The sound was all the more  _ sweet _ , as he muttered his conclusion. Softly at first, before screaming it in triumph and joy.

“STANLEY PINES, IS DEAD!”

✦✦✦

His return to the Mindscape wasn’t as  _ glorious  _ as he had hoped. His “form” his “being” popped out of Stanley’s cold corpse and was thrown back, spinning in the cold winter air. It took Bill a moment to realize he was kicked out. The prude finally entered a church—a church only because his casket was being brought inside. The demon fixed his bowtie and hat, getting a feel for the world again- getting a feel for  _ existing  _ again. He scanned his eyes over the black-clad, crowd, everyone was wearing formal attire. Many of the faces he recognized well. Despite being much more tired, much more worn for wear, and more experienced to the cruelties of existence than he remembered, but he couldn’t forget the humans of Gravity Falls that ruined his life. Notably, in the crowd of crying, humans were, Red, Question Mark, Llama, Heart,  _ Gideon _ , and...The rest of the Pines were missing. Bill stared at the group for a few passing moments, before focusing his attention to the search for the awful family who ruined him. 

Ford first. One of his eyes had found him. There the old man was, gray worn and weary now, a blank expression splayed on his face, the fire that used to burn in the man nothing more than a distant memory. He was 92, as a small birthday card resting by his lamp stated, one that was sent to him not from Shooting Star, like the demon had expected, but Question Mark. Bill crossed his arms and contemplated what he should do because he  _ knew _ , Stanford Pines, was going to die today. What was the point in-

_ Well, Sixer was going to die of a heart attack. _

Bill’s eye curved in joy as he came to the conclusion, that he should be the last thing the old man sees before he dies. The world bleached of color around Stanford, the old man barely showing any reaction to the change. Appearing before him, Bill sensed a small change in the man’s expression that quickly faded back to complacency, he gave the triangle a warm smile that shook the demon’s core. 

Here was Stanford Pines, old friend, and enemy...here yet—not quite. The old man grinned once more, a silent and unsure greeting he gave the demon, filled with no malice nor adoration, just a confused and complacent grin. Fucking Alzheimer's, who'd have guessed he would develop this, _certainly_ not Bill. Bill’s bricks turned red, there was no point in tormenting this empty shell of a person. 

He summoned the screaming head before disappearing from Stanford’s sight. Bill lingered in the mindscape for a while before moving onto the next Pines that came to mind.

Mabel Pines, Shooting Star. This was harder to find than Ford, and to say the very least, Bill was pleasantly shocked by where he was viewing from. It was a low point view, this  _ eye  _ of his was resting on a tombstone, the object staring at the name that was carved into the surface. Mabel Pines. Dead, and she’s been gone for a while, died long before he grunkles did. Bill scanned the items that were scattered over her grave all of them were...apology letters, the older ones, neatly written and addressed to the girl, the later ones bordering comprehensible, and the newest ones… _ ’Pinetree did something _ . _ ’ _ Of course, the boy had messed up, he must have done something that killed his sister. It was something bound to happen.

...Pine Tree had seen some better days. Bill took no time at all to find the boy, it was easy, far too easy. As the young brunette, who would have had so much to live for in life, was standing in the center of a darkened room, tattered banners lined the walls with old hieroglyphics. The man’s figure lit up by the candles that littered the bloodied room. He was chanting something even the demon himself didn’t comprehend. Mostly due to the fact that the last Pines, looked dehydrated and  _ physically _ could not pronounce the words he was reading. That or due to the mental state he was in,  _ it  _ could not think straight and was jumbling everything together. If possible, Bill would draw a spiral in place of the boy's eyes to show how fucking  _lost_ he seemed.

The large golden eye slid to the center of the room where a strangely neat and perfectly drawn magic circle laid, one Bill recognized to be one for necromancy. The center was piled with rotting body parts and fresh pig blood... Shooting Star’s clothing and belongings scattered over the disgusting mound. The cheery on top of this messed up pile was the lit candles surrounding the mess.

The demon would have been impressed. If it weren’t for the fact that he wanted revenge on the Pines who took away his precious _“time”_ , and with what was standing before him. This robotic human, he couldn’t do anything to  _ destroy  _ the being... More than he did to himself without Bill’s presence.

Dipper Pines, Pinetree, was—...no, has been dead for a long time.

Beating a dead horse will get him nowhere. Switching his attention back to the church he glared at the crowd flooding into the _ “sacred”  _ building. 

“This is fucking PATHETIC. Nothing EVER GOES MY WAY, HUH?” Bill hollered, not concerned by any of the humans that he was floating below him, as they could not hear him from the mindscape. He quickly flew away, searching for his lost body, the task took him a while, but Bill had finally reached the moss covered stone, surprisingly, it wasn’t _as_ broken down as he believed it would be, it seemed, strangely well kept, all be it the missing hat and corroded stone. Reaching out to take ahold of his body’s hand, he lit it up in blue flames. Bringing his physical form, back to life. It was broken, tattered, a large portion of his body was in disrepair and were _disgustinly_ decorated with moss and flowers. 

But he had power, he had the power to shape reality and even  _ time _ in the form. However, with things as they are, this wasn’t sating his hunger for revenge.

Now, if he recalled there were several deserving people—no an  _ entire family _ , who need to get their shit kicked in, and now that he was all powerful again, the demon demanded SOME FUCKING RETRIBUTION.  _ Even _ if it meant he lost all this euphoric space bending abilities. 

Bill’s eye curved in sick glee. If things weren’t going to go his way...he’ll just have to try, over and over again.

With that, he snapped his fingers.

“Reset.”


	2. Reset, Reset, Reset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kill every living MEAT SACK in the Mystery Shack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to clarify that I don't have a beta, and that this was a rather old concept of mine that I felt like I should finish. So, the first few chapters are some embarrassingly edited chapters from some old documents.  
> If there are inconsistencies and/or mistakes, feel free to discuss it with me in the comments. Thank you for reading!
> 
> Warning:  
> Violence

First thing he did when he reset, was make a deal with Gideon Gleeful and then kill every living MEAT SACK in the Mystery Shack before the twins arrive to Gravity Falls, save for Stanley Pines, that grizzly old man gets the treat of watching his Grand nephew and niece die before his eyes. Well, of course, if his heart can take the beating Bill was dishing out on him. Protip, he didn’t in the end. After a few lashings, hits to the shoulder and then dislocated shoulders, Stanley was quite broken, he had gone completely silent after that. WHICH WAS FINE, but Bill found no satisfaction in beating a dead horse…

And so, he moved onto the sobbing children who were scared out of their wits! Adorable really, how they would try and crawl away from him when he grabbed them both by the hair, even better was when they started pleading him to spare one another. Humans were so resilient even in near death, Shooting Star lost all her canines and an eye, Bill had cut her hair for keepsakes—because yes, he will have his fun and he _will_ have souvenirs of his time travels—he had also removed her pinkies, all _four_ of them and attempted to feed them to Stanely but… unfortunately, that drew the line for the old man. He may have had a lot of willpower but even the bravest could be broken down… or more likely be so horrified that they undergo a series of mental breakdowns that resulted in a stroke. Stanley Pines was dead, the two young twins, on the other hand, were not.

Pinetree was HYSTERICAL, he was cursing, yelling, shouting, promising that he’d have his revenge despite the _state_ he was in! While he was the LEAST INTERESTING meat sack of the entire group—because he was, Bill won’t lie, there was nothing special about the most average boy in the family—he was _fun_ to toy with. First, he loses most of his clothes, funny because he was humiliated and scared like a little girl, then Bill carved his symbols into the boy’s skin, and frankly, he should have thanked him! Bill made him important in a way, covered in blood and the demon’s markings, and just as he expected, Dipper was quiet after that, silently sniffling as he tried to stay upright and not fall into his own pool of blood and… the demon found his silence boring. To remedy that, he decided he was done with Shooting Star and gutted her in front of her brother!

He’s known for a long time how fragile the human body was, a simple incision across their stomach and things just start _pouring_ out like it was some sort of ice cream dispenser, yeah don’t question it, Bill saw those weird pink intestines as frozen yogurt! Though he doubted they would taste good.

He could clearly remember what she looked like under the layers of skin, the layers of _fat_ and flesh—which he did find interesting; the little orbs of fat that hid under flesh and when he brought fire to it, they would burst and melt in the most gruesomely disgusting way that even had Bill squirming… in glee, of course. Shooting Star couldn’t take it for long, she ended up dying not from blood loss but from choking on her own blood and saliva. The girl took the easy way out and bit off her tongue half way through Bill’s evisceration of her bowels.

And _Oh_ , how devastated Pinetree was; _so_ devastated that he… passed out. Bill got bored the moment he conked out, after all, the interesting Pines were dead—

Wait no, _Stanford_ was still alive.

And this was what he gets for not calming down and thinking through his actions, one Pines was alive. The demon ended up using the child as a toy to vent his frustration, picking him up and slamming his body into the walls, floor, and ceiling. Of course, by then Dipper Pines was dead and now he had nothing to play with.

The demon groaned, loud and exhausted as he heard a car door close outside of the shop. _Tourists_ , of course, the moment they stepped onto the porch they exploded which led to some loud screaming and people crying but, Bill did not care. Instead, as he stared at the mangled corpses within the House.

He still had a game to complete and maybe, killing all the NPCS wasn’t the greatest idea! The demon chuckled to himself as he lifted Shooting star’s disemboweled corpse up, ignoring the way her organs fell to the ground and hung out of her cut before pinning her to the wall with a few nails he ripped from the floorboards.

Well, he was finished here; his bloody version of Mabel Jesus was completed on the wall of the Mystery Shack. There was nothing else to do except move on and start a new _game_.

**Reset.**

The second time around, Bill figured that he would play along, follow the same events before all this and see if everything played out the exact same or if… something different happens. Humans were unpredictable after all and he worried if their uncertainty would lead to _big_ changes in the outcome.

Everything seemed normal, the young Pines twins were ever the same albeit some of Mabel’s lines were a bit different depending on what Bill did but THAT WAS TO BE EXPECTED. Pinetree… was as boring as ever, his lines seemed to repeat over and over like a broken record. Blah, blah, blah, something, something, DO NOT TRUST. In fact, everything was going great! He ended up losing himself in his research to see what would change about this world that… he didn’t realize his actions might have caused some _events_ to happen.

This said event was that Ford and Stan forgave each other which was GREAT FOR OL’SIXER but not for Bill, because the _moment_ he started up Weirdmageddon and convinced his buddies that this time’ll be different, those two knuckle brains teamed up and decided they were going to _‘defeat’_ him. Unfortunately, that did happen as much as Bill hated to admit that, and so the zodiac was completed and the yellow demon was banished back to the Second Dimension and _‘trapped’_ there.

Pacing back and forth on the flat world, in a flat form, the demon growled, how did it fail? Was he not aggressive enough? No maybe he should try tormenting Stan when he was working on the portal. Yes, that would work, instead of focusing on the smarter brother, he should break the moron who places family first. The demon chuckled, “PERFECT!” With that, he snapped his fingers.

**Reset.**

Bill wasn’t sure whether or, not to title this run as a _lost_. See, it went well for the first half, he was actually able to convince the children that their Great Uncle was some sort of serial killer, a feat done by messing around with what the kids saw in the memories of their _‘Grunkle’s’_ mind, a few fancy words and dead tourists later, they were so paranoid and scared of the old man that they started to plot against him! Everything was working perfectly but… the plan broke off when they activated the portal…

The issue is after you break the trust and bond between meat sacks, it seems they will do anything to sabotage the person they do not have confidence in or do not care for. As usual, Pinetree was his paranoid self, constantly dictating what his sister should or should not do and this became prevalent when the heartbroken Shooting Star begged for her Grunkle to tell her what was going on with him albeit at an inappropriate time since the portal had activated. Stan gave her a shitty response, Pinetree told her to shut down the machine and well, anyone with more than two brain cells could probably determine what happened next.

The machine shut down.

No rift. No Stanford Pines. No revenge. Game over.

That won’t do. With a frustrated groan, Bill snapped his fingers.

**Reset.**

Trying one more time, he attempted to target the younger children. This one proved to be difficult because they had a tendency to _die_ if Bill wasn’t careful with what he got them into, the demon couldn’t _count_ how many times he’s reset this game of his, over and over, just to keep them alive to follow through with his plans.

What brought upon the sudden interest in the twins? Well from the one session where Stanley was his main target, he figured out that Dipper Pines? Despite being lackluster and everyone’s average little kid, was the one who called the shots regarding big decisions. He would be the one to convince his sister to do things, _“Mabel no, Mabel yes, Mabel listen to me! Mabel trust me.”_ All that type of jazz and it was _funny_ how Shooting Star never noticed that, though, she also frequently disobeyed Dipper or her own personal gain but, that was to be expected. You can’t hold down the _‘God of Destruction’_ as she calls herself. Bill can’t deny her, she _was_ the God of Destruction, constantly being the cause of people’s demise.

After however many resets to keep them alive, the last one he had focused on tormenting the kids… was probably the most worrying one.

The demon had rationalized if he tormented Pinetree, used him and wrapped the kid around his finger forcefully, he would be able to control Mabel Pines. MAKE her scared of her own sibling _and for_ her own sibling. During the _‘Sock Opera’_ , he did his best to act normally, deciding that the journal, now that he knows how _useless_ the item is, wasn’t worth it over a physical body. Specifically, Pinetree’s body. Everything passed by like a breeze, no one suspected anything and Bill made sure that there was no way for the boy to contact his sibling, all he had to do was keep a hard grip around Shooting Star’s shoulder and while Pinetree was intelligent enough to find help… that help? Soos? Well, Bill threatened him with the life of his girlfriend and immediately, the fat bloke decided to back down and abandon the boy.

Isolated and scared, for a month he was tormented by Bill where no one could help him, and after that month was up, Pinetree finally pleaded to be returned to his body.

_That_ was a thrill and Bill reveled when his willpower shattered. His time with Pinetree though was just beginning. Every night he got to torment the kid, force him to do his bidding, be it hunting and killing magical beasts for him or sitting still so Bill could test how much pain a human body can take before they pass out. Torturing the boy was purely for entertainment, of course, he never _overdid_ it and made sure that it wouldn’t leave any marks on his pale-ass skin, but he really couldn’t help it, Pinetree’s screams were absolutely _euphoric_ to the demon, it’s his fault for being so stubborn.

At the end of that session, after everything fell into place and a few possessions of his new toy, to get Stanford back, and then a few possessions to scare and partially maim the others. No one in the Pines family trusted one another.

He was going to win, all he needed was the rift and the formula to escape Gravity Falls from Stanford’s head.

But, alas this universe seemed to be against him…

“I don’t know if I c-can do this anymore…” Bill watched on in confusion as the small child lifted up a pistol and pointed it at the old man. What, no wait what was he doing? This wasn’t supposed to be apart of the plan!

Pinetree swallowed and let out a small sob, his dead eyes, devoid of childish curiosity and light, were brimming with tears. “Who are you?! Can I even trust you, Grunkle Ford!? Why were you working with Bill?” He shouted, clutching onto the small sphere—the only thing Bill needed to win this game. The demon panicked, he couldn’t let the kid go through with this. Unfortunately, the barrier Ford placed around his office was far too strong, pushing against it did nothing for the demon. All he could do was sit down and watch the scene play out.

Ford was clearly distressed, when he tried to approach the child, he noticed the child’s grip tighten on the trigger immediately stopping him in his tracks. Bill had to hand it to himself, he _really_ broke Pinetree if he was pointing a gun at the Author.

The old man’s eyes flickered between the barrel of the gun and the sobbing boy. “N-now, Dipper, calm down, it’s not what it seems. Put… put the gun dow—” it was over in a second. Dipper Pines, a twelve-year-old boy shot Ford. Once through the eye, two through his forehead in a glorious display of blood splattering against the man’s machines and parchments. The wounds instantly killed him and what was even more demented was that _Pinetree_ despite Bill’s warnings, began shooting his Grunkle’s head, emptying the clip into the man’s skull and ensuring that he destroyed the brain.

It was to stop Bill from using Ford’s knowledge.

A deadly silence washed over the room, Dipper held no light in his eyes, the tears rolled down his cheeks and quickly dried. With a sniffle, the boy recomposed himself. Pinetree glanced around the room, shaken and clearly distraught as he ran up to a padded safe, placed the Rift into it and slammed it shut, covering up the lock as he stabbed random numbers for a key.

Bill watched in silence as Pinetree reloaded the clip muttering quietly to himself through stuttering breaths.

In his quiet rambles, he heard him say, “You win, Bill.” Before bringing the barrel of the pistol into his mouth and pulling the trigger.

Dipper Pines was dead. Stanford Pines was dead. No rift. No way out of Gravity Fall’s weirdness containment field.

Bill snapped his fingers.

**Reset.**

✦✦✦   

_‘Reset, reset, reset!’_

Bill screamed into the skies of the mindscape, it was infuriating, he has reset so many times, he has done EVERY possible combination. He had manipulated EVERY possible human in Gravity Falls. _Yet_ he was STILL. LOOSING. This was originally a game, a _game_ of his, something for fun and for revenge. He thought that this would be something he’d enjoy—that he’d _revel_ in the control he had over these PETTY HUMANS. But now it was personal, he’s spent more times than he can count with these sickening faces.

He gave the disgusting family the middle finger before snapping his fingers once more.

“RESET.”

✦✦✦   

Bill lost again, how many times? He can’t keep track anymore. The demon laid there on the ground, beaten and tired as the family that continues to _mock_ him hugged and cried in joy.

What has he done _wrong_? Why was he always losing?

He stared at the group standing around him, Pinetree… Oh Pinetree, the plainest and unnoticeable child of the Pines family was the first to notice his gaze. “So… what will we do with Bill?” The child asked in a quiet voice, crouching so he could get a closer look at him, battered and humiliated. Bill scoffed and closed his eye.

“Dipper? Do you still have that shrink ray?” Ford asked, Bill only assumed the boy did, as they gave a small hum of acknowledgment and a small clicking sound was heard before Bill felt himself become smaller and smaller. “There! He’s all tiny, quickly put him in this jar.” The demon didn’t even resist when Stan violently picked him up and dropped his physical form into a small glass jar, the old man triumphed and announced, “Thanks to Dipper’s creation here, we can imprison him. He won’t be able to escape and his powers cannot affect anything outside of the jar, nor can he leave it. He’s trapped for good.”

“I could make a fortune off people shaking this good for nothing demon around.” Stan commented. Giving the jar an experimental shake. Bill didn’t say anything as he was tossed around. Everything was over, what is the point of doing anything? If he doesn’t conquer this realm he’d be a laughing stock among his peers, who had given up on helping him take over this universe. Bastards decided to move on and see if they could try their hand at conquering their own universe. Now, like them, he was starting to finally see how lackluster this world was, how futile this game of his was. If he couldn’t win, why fight?

✦✦✦

Bill stared at the alarm clock on Pinetree’s desk as the seconds ticked by. The boy was focused on his book and wasn’t paying attention to him, he doubted he would anyways. But Bill was bored and sitting in absolute silence wasn’t entertaining. “Pinetree…” he whined. The demon’s voice went unnoticed, backing himself into the glass wall, Bill curled his knees below his bowtie, wrapping his arms around his legs as he called for the boy again, “ _Pinetree_.”

Finally, large brown eyes looked up from his book to him through thick long lashes. “Mhmm? What is it, Bill?” He simply replied, flipping the page, a few strands of his hair fell over his face, the curly mop free from the white and blue baseball hat.

“Why do you keep me in your room against Stan’s orders?” Bill asked, removing a hand to draw circles onto the glass ground he sat on. It had only been two days since the Pines family had encased him in the jar and already, he was spared from the humility of being toyed with by humans. The Pines boy stopped reading his book, his gaze now locked onto the demon, a silence settled around them in the twin’s room.

The child sighed and closed the novel they seemed quite invested in. He crossed his arms on the table and settled his face onto it, nuzzling the sweater he was wearing, a ridiculous gift made by Shooting Star herself. He brought a hand up to the jar, for a second, Bill thought that the boy was going to shake the jar like everyone else, but no, he lightly tapped the glass, “... You look so dead out in the shop. It’s almost... sad.” Pinetree answered, lightly tapping the jar again, Bill only stared at the boy as he seemed to enjoy his own musings, “You’re not a nice person Bill, but seeing you being mistreated like you were a toy... feels wrong.”

“Why do you care, Pinetree?” Bill closed his eye, if he had a mouth, he’d frown because this _twelve-year-old child_ was pitying him. “I almost killed you, what is the purpose of being nice to me.”

The boy moved away from the demon’s jar and gave them a noncommittal shrug before falling back onto the chair, his head thrown back and resting over the back of his seat. He sighed and carded a hand through his hair, “First, I feel like you would do the exact same thing with us if you had the chance, something inside of me told me that you have done this to someone, and you will do it, I’m not you Bill, I don’t take glee when someone’s in pain. Second, Mabel said it earlier, she’s still angry at you so she wouldn’t confront you about it… but she told me that you seemed sad, and I don’t know what has happened to you, but this seems abnormal.” He answered wholeheartedly, Dipper knit his brows before springing forwards, his hands slammed down beside Bill’s jar before he pulled the demon closer so he could scrutinize the demon. “You fought with such ferocity, even Ford said that it was strange how furious you seemed. Was there even a reason for you to break open the Rift? You were outnumbered, you fought everyone from Gravity Falls without help, no colleagues, no backup...Without reason.”

Bill opened his eye to stare at the boy’s pair of shining brown orbs. How many times had Bill seen them clouded, bloodshot, wide with terror, seeping with hatred, blank and rolled into the back of the kid’s head? He hadn’t been keeping count and the horrified faces he so loved, were becoming a norm for him, they were no longer enjoyable.

No longer a treat.

“Do I need a reason? Because I don’t even know why I fight you, Pines,” he snapped back and turned his gaze away.

Pinetree sighed through his nose and frowned, the boy took the jar into his arms and leaned back in the chair, his eyes focused on the ceiling that was decorated with plastic stars, “There’s always a reason. You tried to murder us, murders without the intent to kill are accidents. And I don’t take your rage as _accidental wrath._ As much as I hate you for what you’ve done, you’re no harm now. That and I’m bored, so why don’t you tell me your story?”

Bill blinked, what a question. An exhausted—simulated—sigh escaped the demon as he explained, “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand what I have seen, done and what I’ve been through.” His eye twisted up in disgust and frustration. The set of emotions more directed at himself than at the boy holding onto his prison. “No, it’s not that you wouldn’t _understand_ , you wouldn’t BELIEVE me.”

An awkward silence fell between the two, both stared at each other with an unreadable expression. Pinetree was the first to break the silence with a drawn-out sigh, he dragged the jar onto his lap without warning, receiving a startled squeak from the demon as he bounced against the glass.

“Bill, I confronted a clan of manotaurs, I befriended a bear made of bears, I fought a candy monster who tried to eat me, I’ve fallen in a wormhole that was supposed to be a never-ending tunnel, I defeated a shapeshifter…” The boy paused his musings and closed his eyes before continuing slowly, “I survived the _apocalypse_ … and now here I am, sitting in the shack with the cause of all my family’s pain… in a jar—… on my lap. At this point, I can’t deny the _possibility_ of anything you say.” He concluded and fluttered his eyes open.

Bill wasn’t looking at the boy, but he knew that their gaze was burrowing into him, deciding to not grace the kid with words, he allowed another prolonged silence settle in, the brunette chuckled softly. “Not going to speak?” asked Pinetree, knowing the demon wasn’t going to reply.

The two remained like that for a while, sitting in the _peace_ of the morning, the sound of tourists flooding into the shack and the chirps from the birds outside filled the room. It had been like this for a few hours, ever since the argument the Pines boy had with his Grunkles about keeping Bill by his bed. The demon never expressed gratitude for rescuing him from ridicule, and the boy never asked much of the demon, as most of the conversations they had with the demon, were musings to himself more than anything. It was strangely nice, the monotonous day to day activities and chatter, that Bill once _despised_ had become… abnormal for him.

Out of the norm, out of _his_ norm.

“Bill?” Pinetree’s voice snapped the demon out of his thoughts, he looked up at the boy who was staring out the window with a blank expression. “Do you think... in another world or universe, we could have become friends?” He chuckled before adding on, “I mean, actual friends. Not like what you did to Ford.”

The demon sat there, at the bottom of his glass prison. He wasn’t purposefully trying to come off as rude, as if he were, he would have already snapped back a snarky remark. But no, he was actually trying to come to peace with himself and find the words for an answer. For some reason, Dipper Pines seemed to understand his struggle to form words and remained silent. Bill closed his eye and started to dig into his psyche.

He had done a lot of things even other beings like him, considered unethical. The demon never cared for or loved anyone, deciding to stay away from all of that. Truthfully, he was lonely. He has been for many universes and timelines. The demon glanced up at the boy whose eyes were lightly closed, a dull look of peace across his face. He remembered the times where he was _friends_ with Standford, where Sixer was an ally and he could talk to the old man like a friend… those were fun times that he’ll never be able to visit because his resets seem to only load on the day the young Pines twins came to town. Pathetic really, look at him, an all-powerful dream demon with the ability to destroy and rebuild universes, questioning his own actions. Maybe, if he just played along, didn’t seek the control of the world, everything would be much more entertaining. It’d be a win-win situation, free of boredom, with no possibility of losing this _game_ he had set up, _again_. If anything happens, he could just reset everything, no strings attached.

“I don’t know, Pinetree,” Bill got up from the glass ground as the boy settled him back onto his desk. The Pine’s boy rested his head onto crossed arms, his blank brown eyes dug into the demon, patiently waiting for him to continue, “You humans have such a short lifespan, if you can somehow convince me that your friendship, is worth the small amount of time you have left...” The demon placed a hand on the glass, his eyes trained at the sharp claws on the end of his fingers. “Then amuse me.”

“Deal.” Pinetree said without hesitation, placing a finger against the glass where his hand was. His hand flared up in blue flames, spreading against the glass before quickly dispersing. Uncertain of what just happened, the demon met the boy’s eyes. No signs of regret or even fear swam in those coffee colored pools, that looks made Bill laugh. He turned around, lifting a hand up, he prepared himself. A plan… what would he do once the cycle repeats again? This time he’ll go as a pacifist and then break their hearts.

A rustle sounded behind him, the boy was reaching forwards for the jar, Bill knew he was, but why? Pinetree should know that the jar contained his powers, “W-wait—Bill what are you—” _no, don’t mind the kid._

With Dipper Pine’s panicked voice in the back of his mind, he snapped his fingers.

**Reset.**

Nothing.

Bill’s eye shot open and he snapped again.

Nothing.

His gaze met with Pinetree’s, the boy watching him with a slight tilt to his head, confused by his actions. Panic settled into Bill as he snapped again, before narrowing his eyes at his hand. Never has this ability _once_ failed him, after killing time baby multiple times, in multiple timelines, his control should be absolute!

A soft sigh left the Pines boy, he seemed to have relaxed. Letting out a soft chuckle he said, “I thought you were going to do something drastic, Bill,” the boy carded a hand through his fluffy locks, “I keep f-forgetting that you can’t do anything in that jar.” The demon growled, he _should_ be able too, no normal magic could bind him to a measly glass jar or a timeline.

“Pinetree, what is this DAMNED jar enchanted with?” The demon said in a low voice, gradually getting louder as he felt himself regain the rage he thought he had long lost.

The boy gave him an innocent look before lightheartedly responding, “That’s for me to know and you to... never find out!” Pinetree chuckled before returning to his book. The demon smacked the glass jar in frustration. Whatever the Pines did to this useless prison was beyond him, it’s fallen before when a child had dropped it during a shake, but instead of shattering, it _bounced_. The fact that the Pines were so prepared, infuriated him. He felt something burn in him, _hatred_ … The feeling quickly subsided and with a defeated grunt, he fell back down to the glass floor. There was no point to this, he’s going to be stuck like this forever and there was nothing he could do, not even temporary escape to the mindscape was available to him. He was for all intents and purposes. Trapped.

Silence settled between them and all Bill could do was curl up and wait for something to happen. Which quickly did, Pinetree stuck a bookmark between the pages and placed it down on the table. The demon watched as the boy began stacking his books into a pile, before sliding off his chair. A split second of panic rose within Bill, the feeling causing him to spring up from his prison and slamming his tiny hands onto the opposite wall. The action caught the boy’s attention and a small about of relief washed over the demon, “Are you leaving now?”

Pinetree raised a brow and nodded as he went to pack his suitcase. The boy was leaving tomorrow, once he’s gone, Stan and Ford are free to torture him for the rest of their pathetic existence. Bill patted the jar again, the action catching the boy’s eyes once more, “What is it Bill?” He said in a slightly irritated tone.

The demon backed up and fiddled with his fingers. “Can I come along?” asked Bill, he couldn’t believe what he was saying, but weighing the possibilities, being at the mercy of the Pines boy was far better than being under that of the older Pines twins. “To Piedmont?” The boy stopped and gave Bill a cold hard stare.

A long period of silence passed by before Dipper responded, “Everyone else might have something against it, they don’t believe me when I say you’re no longer a danger, I want to take you with me...but what about the barrier? Can you even pass through that?” Pinetree bit his knuckles, his brow furrowed in thought.

“Can you take me to the edge of the barrier? See if you can get me through?” The demon began to fidget with his bowtie, “I mean with this jar, my presence is APPARENTLY trapped within this CRACKSHOT of a prison. If that is the case, the barrier might not see me as an ALL-POWERFUL THREAT and I might be able to escape the confines of this HORRID HILLBILLY TOWN.” He glanced up at the boy who decided to stuff a few socks into the suitcase as he spoke. Pinetree hummed softly and sat down on the floor.

“I was actually planning to test that theory of yours’ yesterday ago, however, Ford didn’t want me taking you out of the shack…” shutting his eyes, the human contemplated the idea. Pinetree ran his tongue along his lips before nodding. “Let’s do it. Ford’s busy in the basement and Stan’s out, I can easily sneak you out of here! Besides… I need to confirm something else too.” Hopping onto his feet, the boy ran over to Bill and picked him up, saying, “Let’s go, Bill.”

The triangle said nothing as Pinetree shoved him into his backpack. Quickly welcoming the darkness of the sack. He couldn’t quite tell what was happening, but thankfully he could hear the Pines family’s loud and obnoxious voices.

“Heya bro-bro! Where ya headed?” Shooting star said in a muffled tone. The demon could only assume that the girl was eating something disgustingly glittery.

The backpack shifted slightly, “I’m going on a walk around town before we have to leave.” The sound of something tapping on stone flooring followed after Pinetree’s response. _“He’s putting on shoes?”_

“Oh! Can I join you?” The girl said excitedly.

“Uh um...sorry Mabel, I kind of want to go alone.” Bill rolled his eye and flopped down against the glass. With a loud whine from the female twin, the closing of a door sounded. Before all he could discern was the sound of gravel crunching under the child’s weight. After a few _“hello”s_ passed, the boy became silent, only the sound of the outside world’s creatures high up on their perches sounded, mixed with the small pants coming from the boy and the crunching of twigs under his weight. Bill closed his eye and listened to the voices of the birds and bugs until the boy finally stopped.

“Sorry for the wait.” Pinetree’s face was the first thing Bill saw coming out of the black void. The demon was slightly taken aback by how abruptly he appeared but quickly hid that with an irritated grumble as the child lifted his prison from the bag. “I don’t think anyone knows that I took you out of the mystery shack.” The boy absentmindedly stated as he swung the bag back over his shoulder and started crawling over rocks and fallen trees.

They were at the barrier—well at least Bill believed it was, where else would they be? It was in the forest, the part of the barrier that was closest to the shack, trees surrounded them and the sound of onlooking birds echoed through the trees. Bill looked up at the sun, the big round ball of gas glared down in its angry red heat, worse was that the glass amplified its glare. It bothered the demon’s eyes, making it hard for him to see with its light and just as he was about to complain, Pinetree walked into the shade. The demon gave him a quizzical look, was the boy looking for some thanks? Bill shrugged him off, if he was expecting something, the demon wasn’t the one going to give it to him.

The boy let out a nervous breath as he stepped towards the barrier. He took out a strange bronze pendant from his vest pocket and tossed it forwards, it came in contact with an invisible wall and slid down, “So that’s where it is...”

The demon stared at the small sparks that the pendant was creating as it laid pressed up against the barrier. The demon brought his legs to his body and wrapped his arms around them, he’s smacked into the barrier multiple times. It wasn’t uncomfortable but the feeling certainly wasn’t pleasant either. Just as he was about to voice his concern to the kid, he noticed the boy seemed quite shaken, breaths coming in quite ragged and his movements were tense as they scooted closer in the general direction the pendant was. The demon scoffed, “Why are YOU nervous?”

Pinetree swallowed and furrowed his brow, “Don’t worry about it.” He simply responded before taking a few more calculated steps towards the barrier. Bill watched in curiosity as the kid stuck a hand out and slid through the bubble. An audible sigh of relief escaped him before his gaze went to Bill and he gripped the jar tighter. Bill crossed his arms as he waited for the barrier to push him against the glass wall.

Nothing.

They passed the barrier. The boy stared at the pendant behind them in silence, before breaking out into cheerful laughter, “I did it! It works! We can leave! Oh, my god! I can’t believe this works.”

Bill snickered at the boy’s reaction, as he was about to ask the kid about the enchantment once more, he felt a sudden wave of uneasiness shake his core. The demon’s eye widened. He glanced up at the boy who was still smiling to himself. “Pinetree, let’s go back, I’m not...” Bill’s eye fluttered close against his own will. He was tired, for some reason he felt like all the energy within him was being drained.

The boy’s voice shook him awake, “Bill?” The implications of his words and how he probably looks, sent the boy running back over the barrier. A small tugging sensation pass over the demon before as quick as it came over him, popped out of existence. He immediately felt more lively, however, a sick feeling had settled into him and it was...unsettling to say the very least. For the first time in his existence, passing through that barrier had made him _physically tired_ , something only organics of this dimension should feel. The demon glanced at the boy who was lost in thought. After a moment passed, Pinetree lifted Bill up and looked him over, “How are you feeling, Bill?”

The demon scoffed, “I feel like I want to pass out and DIE.”

Pinetree’s expression seemed to have darkened, “This isn’t a joke, how are you feeling _exactly?_ ” the boy demanded.

Bill narrowed his eye at the child, he didn’t like being ordered around but when have things ever gone his way? He’ll find a way to make him pay for opposing him. With a resigned grunt, the demon answered, “I feel like that one time I possessed you when you didn’t sleep for forty-eight hours.”

Bill’s answer was greeted with silence. His eyes widened once he realized that he had said a past event from another timeline. His gaze darted to the boy, scanning their face for any worrisome signs. He chuckled slightly, surely the kid will start asking if he messed with his memories. However, the onslaught of questions never came.

“… That never happened…”

_Oh shit_. He mixed up this timeline with some of the other timelines. Bill broke out into unconfined laughter as he quickly hid over his statement with, “OH WELL, THAT WAS A JOKE! Of course, it never happened! I was making a comment on how UNGODLY AWFUL you are at preserving your pathetic life!”

Pinetree seemed distracted by something else as he continued, “I’m going to ignore what you said and guess that you’re feeling physically exhausted.” He tapped his chin and snuck a glance at the demon, one Bill didn’t fail to notice. The boy’s eyes were hard to ignore, the demon could find them easily. With a small hum, the Pines boy waved the thought away and said, “No… nevermind… I got what I needed. Let’s go back to the shack, we have to leave in a few hours and I’m still not done packing.”

Bill watched the boy place him back into his backpack, darkness once again surrounding him. The child said nothing on the way back, anyone who said a greeting to him was either ignored or was given a curt nod of acknowledgment. The demon closed his eye and tried to pass the time by drawing circles into the glass.

“That was a quick stroll bro. What did ya do?” Bill perked up at the sound of Shooting Star, it meant that they were finally back he pushed himself up and leaned against the glass wall.

The boy hesitated for a moment before smoothly answering, “I just wanted to say goodbye to everyone.” The world shook, knocking Bill against the opposing wall, the demon grunted angrily as he heard a loud high pitch squeak from the Pines girl, Pinetree’s voice came out choked, “You’re crushing my lungs M-Mabel...l-let go, please.” He gasped and panted once he was released.

Shooting Star lightly giggled, an underlying tone of sadness in her jest, “I’m going to miss everyone too, but we have to go home.” She began walking away before the bag shook once more.

“Wait!” Pinetree called out, a small hint of panic in his voice. The boy fumbled with his words for a moment before continuing, “I want to test something, Mabel...”

“What’s up, Dipper?” His sibling asked softly, the squeak of the wooden flooring resisting her weight as she moved towards her brother once more.

“It’s with uh...Bill,” the demon narrowed his eye and sat back against the glass wall. He waited for the boy to continue, before he knew it, the backpack was being opened, Pinetree had an unreadable expression, one someone would wear to a poker game.

The boy lifted him out of the bag and handed the demon to Mabel who looked repulsed. “You took _Bill_ out of the shack!? Dipper—”

“It’s fine Mabel, I wanted to test something, Bill can’t do anything in that jar so don’t worry about it.” He reassured the girl before opening the door to the shack once more, Fez was away from the shack, leading his last group of tourists away and Question Mark was standing in the clearing sending photos of him wearing the Mystery Shack fez to his girlfriend. The demon huffed in indignation and crossed his arms. Shooting Star shook him slightly as she watched her brother walk out of the shack, slowly getting further and further away.

She sputtered, “Dipper! What are you trying to do?” She called out after the boy. Pinetree gave her a quick wave yelling back a simple reassurance, continuing his trek backwards to some unknown destination.

About twenty feet away...he collapsed.

The Pines girl let out a horrified shriek and dropped Bill’s jar. The container bounced along the ground and it started to glow slightly, although a bit shaken by the sudden shock of being dropped and slammed multiple times into the glass walls. The demon tapped the glass, no sound came from the action, it was muted by the sudden sound of a muffled... yet distinct _thumping_. As he sat there contemplating the reason to the occurrence, Shooting Star ran over to him and picked him up. Racing over to her brother’s body with him in tow.

Trying to steady himself in the bumpy ride the demon eventually gave up and went limp, his body being knocked around in the glass jar, slamming into walls and against the lid.  “What the HELL Star?” He glanced at her worried expression and then at the still boy, unmoving and limp on the ground. “I DEMAND to know what happened to Pinetree.” He was placed rather roughly against the boy, the female twin’s frantic actions caught the attention of Question Mark who started to head over to them. The demon’s gaze never left Shooting Star though, her eyes were brimming with tears as she held onto her brother’s hand. Slowly and clearly Bill tried one more time, “What is this jar MADE of? You NEED to tell me, Shooting Star.” He demanded.

The girl only closed her eyes and solemnly shook her head. Bill was just about to ask again before he felt a vibration, something tapped the jar. His gaze turned to Pinetree who was coughing and looked like he was in an immense amount of pain.

The boy laughed, “That’s for me to know...” He groaned and sat up, lifting the jar into his lap. Bill fumed inside of the prison, he wanted to punch the laughter right out of him but he knew that in this place, he had nothing and could not harm him. The boy wrapped his arms around the jar and hugged it close to his body, the kid looked up at his sister who wore a concerned expression, “I’m fine Mabel... the test worked out. Let’s go back?” Despite the worrisome event earlier, he replied in an eerily calm voice. Question Mark came over and helped him up, the group walked back to the shack in silence before...

“You took, Bill, out of the shack?!” Ford was standing at the entrance with an extremely nasty look. He narrowed his eyes at the demon in the jar. Bill flipped him off. The old man rolled his eyes and rushed the group inside.

The large man nervously looked for an escape and pointed out the door, “Glad you are okay little buddy but... I really should get back to speaking with Melody... and uh—other important stuff.” With that poorly made excuse, Question Mark ran out of the shack, looking over his shoulder one last time before huffing away.

Ford crossed his arms and glared at the children. Shooting Star gave her Grunkle a wary look before sliding behind her brother, in a feeble attempt to shield herself from the scolding there were about to get. Just as Ford was about the speak, Pinetree spoke up, “Great-uncle Ford? We need to talk, you aren’t going to like this but...” The boy handed Bill to his sister and took the old man by the wrist, dragging him to the basement.

Bill sat at the bottom of the glass jar, his eye wandering over anything that could be found amusing to him. Only to catch sight of a familiar pink pig. The girl’s pig strolled up to them, it gave the demon an indifferent look before nudging its owner’s leg.

“Hah...hey, there Waddles.” Shooting Star walked over to the stairs and sat down, cradling the jar in her arms. A long period of time passed before the girl let out a weak sob, “Dipper’s an idiot.”

Bill rolled his eye, “TELL ME ABOUT IT. I don’t know WHAT that INCOMPETENT MORON did to this jar, but it seems it SURE AIN’T HEALTHY.” The demon glared at the wall. “I sure feel sorry for you, Star. Having to deal with your brother’s antics. I worry you may suffer a heart attack!” The demon chortled, tapping a small tune on the prison’s glass floor.

The girl chuckled, “If only you knew...” She tightened her grip on the jar and continued to quietly cry.

The demon scowled, the human who was crying above him was starting to get on his nerves. He felt like snapping at the girl. But from past experiences with the girl, he knew that wouldn’t work out in his favor, the demon tucked his rage away in favor of seeming sympathetic. “Don’t cry now, Shooting Star, tears look good on your brother. But, they don’t suit you.”

The girl stared at him before letting out a small and pitiful laugh, “Why’re you... being...” She sniffled, “That’s just not fair.”

“Is Bill bothering you?” The sound of Pinetree’s voice caught the demon’s attention. He glared at the boy, the human was watching him and Mabel with a blank expression.

The girl shook her head, “N-no… don’t worry about it Dipper.” She wiped a rolling tear off her face and recollected herself. Quickly standing to her feet, Mabel strolled up to her brother and handed the jar back to him. She gave him a small hug, Bill trapped in the middle before running up the stairs.

After being left alone, the boy tipped the jar slightly and looked into it, as Bill huffed and turned his attention to the disappearing visage of Shooting Star as she went up the stairs to their room. “You’re mad at me?” Bill didn’t respond to the boy, “I understand why you would be...” Pinetree said indifferently as he headed up the stairs.

Bill didn’t grace the kid with words, choosing to silently watch him pack his bags. Once his sister was done and had left the room, the boy broke the silence, “I’m taking you with me.” Bill glared at the boy, Pinetree’s expression was soft, with no signs of hostility towards him, despite all that he has done to them in the past two months. Then he finally noticed it, the puffy red eyes, signs that the human had cried recently. Pinetree looked away and shoved his vest into the case. “I got into an argument with Grunkle Ford, he’s uh… not happy with my decision.”

Bill watched the boy as he closed the suitcase, “Why go so far for me? Aren’t I your enemy?”

With a chuckle, Pinetree lifted his bag onto his shoulders and took a hold of his suitcase. “I’m not doing this for you...however,” he picked up Bill’s prison, “You and I made a deal, I’m going to be your friend.”

Bill slammed a fist against the glass, “I said that in the heat of the moment _Pines_. Don’t think it meant ANYTHING.”

The boy let out a quiet laugh before shrugging, “It means something to me.” The demon blinked at his response, shifting his gaze to look directly into the boy’s brown eyes.

“Just how much of a moron are you?”

A chuckle escaped Pinetree’s lips, “a very determined one.”

✦✦✦

Under the scorching sun of the mid-noon, the young Pines twins stood at the bus stop with their Grunkles, tear jerking farewells being said and friends mingling for one last time before they return home. It was sickening to the demon. Bill sat, turned towards Pinetree, nothing but faded red in his line of view as the boy was clutching the jar against his chest. He was never around for this part of the timelines, either being trapped for a few years before he could reset or resetting before the twins could return home. This strange event, that he’s never experienced, should be intriguing him even if it’s just a little! But no, it was boring and Bill was being ignored.

“Something to remind you.” The demon turned slightly just to see Red put on a white and blue trucker’s hat, one that he knew far too well. One that _should_ belong to Pinetree and no one else. The demon huffed and looked away, he was sick of the sappiness that surrounded him.

It was the run of the mill farewells. Shooting Star gave the two old fools a hug as well as pulling in the entire group for one last photo together for her scrapbook. Bill glanced at the old men, Sixer was glaring at him, but the old man did nothing to stop Pinetree as he loaded up onto the vehicle.

“I suppose this is goodbye for now.” Sixer said, addressing no one in particular. But by the way, he was fixated on the demon, Bill knew that, it was meant for him.

His eye curved slightly and he batted his eye, “I know you’ll miss me Fordsy, don’t get too lonely!” He sing-songed. The boy carrying him snorted and walked further down the aisle of chairs. Plopping down at a window seat, his sister sitting it the seat before him. Outside of the window, was the children’s _“friends”_ waving and bidding them a muffled farewell. As the bus began moving, they attempted to run after them only to give up and allow the twins to leave.

A few minutes passed till a sniffle sounded, followed by sad laughter. The demon stared at the small tear that rolled down the glass, watching as more began falling down onto his prison. “You miss them ALREADY?” He looked up at the boy, crying and chuckling at the same time.

Pinetree took Red’s hat off and ran a thumb over the fabric. “I never thought that this would happen.” He muttered through shaky breaths.

The demon rolled his eye, he never made the kid out as sentimental, “You were bound to go back to Piedmont at one point.” He stated, crossing his arms and leaning against the glass. They were reaching the barrier.

“You don’t even know, Bill.” The boy chuckled in response, he placed the hat onto the other seat and looked out the window, waving at the beasts who came to give them a wave of goodbye, “I’m glad you’re coming with me though.” He said absentmindedly.

Bill scoffed, the Pines boy had must have some screws loose, “You’re one STRANGE kid, I was your enemy all summer... and I still was your enemy only four days ago.” A tugging sensation passed over Bill as they crossed the barrier, a sick feeling immediately settled into his core. Dragging at his limbs and trying to will his eye closed.

“A summer?” Pinetree’s voice barely registered to Bill, the demon grunted as he scooted up against the prison wall, the boy took his eyes off the scenery disappearing past them. He smiled, “It felt longer than that.”

_“What irony_ ,” the demon closed his eye and allowed his hands to fall to his side as he slid down to the glass floor. “Oh...you don’t even _know_ , kid.” Bill attempted to force his eye open, only to catch a small glimpse of light before it shut close again. “Hey kid?” Pinetree hummed softly in response, “I’m going to take a nap wake me up when you arrive home.”

He knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“Of course, goodnight Bill Cipher.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kl wkhuh!
> 
> 11-8 14-17-18-26-22.


	3. Constants and Variables?

_“Mabel?”_

_Dry... Dipper’s throat was on fire, a burning sensation licked at his stomach, ever so slowly rising to his throat. His eyes couldn’t tear themselves away from the sight. Brown hair splayed all over the ground, glistening in the dim light from the blood that it laid in. Once lovely flushed cheeks were pale and blank brown eyes stared up at him. Unblinking with no signs of life, swimming in those coffee colored pools._

_There had to be a way to fix this._

✦✦✦

“EARTH TO DIPPER PINES!”

The boy bolted upright, nearly smashing into his sister’s face. His pupils dilated in an attempt to adjust to the harsh light, seeping in from the large cafeteria windows. Dipper glanced around at his surroundings, his dream having barely leaked out of his mind. The image of an older Mabel, lifeless, still fresh in his mind.

“Dipper? Are you okay?” Mabel’s concerned voice snapped him out of his daze and he turned to his sister. The girl was holding onto the jar with Bill inside, he immediately reached out to take it from her. Only to tense up and retract his hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine Mabel, I’m just tired.”

“Oh yeah, I know, you passed out halfway through the movie we were watching last night.” She softly chuckled before reluctantly handing the jar back to her brother. Dipper watched his twin’s eyes flicker around a bit as she tried to find words to say. A silence settled between them, causing her to groan, giving up, “Dipper you can’t just carry the jar around with you in school! You’ve been carrying that thing around since the beginning of the school year, in _plain sight_!”

His gaze traveled down to the jar tilted slightly so he could see the lidded eye of Bill. The demon seemed so peaceful in his glass prison. “I mean...you already know this Mabel, I _need_ to carry the jar with me.”

“I—” she bit her lip, it’s become a bad habit of hers now. “I know! It’s just... I don’t want other people to hurt you again, they all say you’re a freak and that you deserve this kind of pain. I’m sick of having to tend to your wounds. It’s worrying Dipper.” Mabel explained to her dull-eyed brother. Her concerns weren’t unwarranted but... he had no choice, maybe he should have chosen a different container.

With a sigh, he stood up and collected his items, “I’ll start putting the jar inside my bag. It won’t be seen in public now.” Dipper frowned as he placed the demon into his backpack. Mabel was right though, no matter how unsettling it is to not have the jar in his line of vision or in his hands. It was safer for both him and the dream demon if he was to place it in his bag. The teen sighed, “I’m going to the club room. You coming?”

“Oh! No... Luce wanted me to go to go hang out with her and her friends, so...I won’t be going with you today.” Dipper figured that would happen. But he was okay with his sister’s decisions, although it did make him feel lonely and left out. He contemplated if he should go with her, but decided against it. He doesn’t know what Mabel’s friends at school are like and if they’re anything like Grenda and Candy, the next thing he knows, he’ll be in a skirt.

“Alright then. I’ll be off.”

“Say hi to the others for me!” Mabel called out after him. He gave his sister a small wave before exiting the cafeteria. Fully aware of a few pairs of eyes, following his movements. It was only a few steps down the corridor when he had to move his bag to his front, wrapping his arms protectively around it. The Paranormal Investigation Club, Dipper was the founder of the said club, it was a place for the members to enjoy one another’s company and talk about folktales, supernatural beings and write stories. Really, it was just a club for a bunch of people who liked to read and write.

The brunet hummed as he pondered about changing the name to represent what they do. Though then again, everyone had already titled them as weird supernatural nerds. Mocking them and trying to rile them up, by trashing their club room, lockers, and belongings—when they get the chance. Unfortunately, since their two other members were rather scary the club has a rather negative view, due to injuries caused after they’ve vandalized them. _Also_ , unfortunate was that because the other members were honest to god _terrifying_ Dipper was an easy target for bullies.

The two other members being, Ling, a Chinese girl who had quite the violent streak with rumors about her ties with a so-called _“Chinese mafia”_ kept her from being hurt and, Matt, a redhead who while wasn’t physically capable, had connections with gangsters, being the boyfriend of a certain Latino boy who had dropped out to help his adoptive father with his _“work”_. Dipper did not _dare_ question the two’s lives but from what he knew and believed was that they were both tied to the club because of _personal_ reasons, if Matt’s “how do you stop someone from accidentally levitating” question from their last meeting was a sign.

As he passed by a few lockers he felt someone pull on his collar and yank him into another corridor.

“Hey there Dipper.” The boy didn’t look up, he clenched his hands until his knuckles turned white, waiting for this to pass by. “Where’s your jar?” A pair of hands reached for his bag, the action caused something to switch in the younger teen.

In an act of desperation, he shoved the other away. The attack was not taken well by his aggressor, and in a second a hand was in his hair and his cheek was harshly pressed against the wall. “Look here Dipshit, just because you have connections with _fucking assholes_ , doesn’t mean you’re safe. You’re fucking crazy, walking around with a jar on you, obsessing over the weird thing inside of it.” Dipper grunted and stomped on their foot in a weak attempt at retaliation, the response was being lifted away from the wall, only to be slammed back into it.

Hot tears licked at his eyes, the boy took a shaky breath, snapping back, “So what, I like to fawn over the supernatural? My hobby at least is better than yours for taking and collecting photos of Jessica Terrance and jerking off to them.” Something shifted in his aggressor's eye, distress. Dipper smirked and continued, “Oh yeah, don’t think that I don’t know about the latest gossip.”

His words were most likely a poor choice, Steven slammed him against the wall once more, “listen here you little punk, I can snap your bones like as if they were twigs.” The older teen hissed into his ear, the action sending a chill down Dipper’s spine. Not because of the words, as he knew this person was a coward, but by the uncomfortable boundary of personal space being crossed. “You better fucking lay off that attitude of yours, or else you’re going to fucking get it.”

Dipper’s lip quivered for a moment before he jarred his jaw and gritted his teeth. “Piss off!” Sliding an arm under his bag’s straps he used his free hand to punch the other square in the face. While Steven was recovering, he made a dash for his club room. As much as he hated relying on someone else to protect him, it was the best way to avoid being beaten. He heard approaching footsteps as he dashed up the stairs and down a dark corridor.

Just as he reached the door, it swung open, nearly slamming him in the face. An Asian with long, dark brown hair, tucked into a blue parka emerged, an indifferent look displayed in their lidded, reddish brown eyes. They gave the frazzled boy a quick once over, noticing the distress plastered onto his face. With a sigh, they took off their wide framed glasses and handed it to Dipper.

“McGoneroy again?” The older teen slipped on a gold ring onto their middle finger, avoiding disturbing the smiling kitten bandages, scattered about their hands; a courtesy of Mabel. Dipper could only nod in response, his head darted towards the direction, in which his name was called by quite an upset voice. “What did you do this time?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Dipper replied, only for them to give him an incredulous look. The boy deflated and looked away, muttering, “I punched him in the jaw, sorry about this, Ling.”

The Asian shrugged as the said aggressor appeared from the corner of the corridor, face red and angry, expression adorned with a beast-like snarl. The teen seemed to have tensed, once his gaze met with Ling, the smaller teen staring at them with a passive expression. In a split second, they made a rash and quite a bold decision, charging head first at the bull. Attempting to throw a swing at her face. Steven paid the price of being reckless, his attack was easily dodged, she stepped around him. Ling grabbed hold of his upper arm, pulling on it caused him to trip and they proceeded to knee the aggressor in the stomach, using their free arm, to elbow a shoulder blade. Steven fell to the ground letting out an undignified groan of pain while his target clapped their hands together, happy with their handiwork.

She turned to the boy staring at the other teen in pity, “You have the triangle, right? They didn’t take it yeah?” Dipper nodded vehemently in response. The older teen smiled and said, “Let’s go into the club.” With that, they retrieved their glasses, sliding them back on. Dipper took a few seconds to fully process what just occurred before quickly scuttling away into the safety of the clubroom.

The room was as empty as ever and it seemed their other members weren’t here today. It wasn’t a large classroom, as it used to a quiet room for students to study. Unfortunately, no one ever used it, thus the place was abandoned, that was until he opened shop in here. The room had one long desk in the middle with two chairs on each side, stacks of paper and books littered a work desk they moved into here, solely for Dipper’s use and a small bookshelf rested beside it. Ling sighed and strolled to her seat away from the sunlight, leaking through the closed blinds. It was silent and dull, nothing special about the room but Dipper didn’t mind after all this was a place for them to hide from reality and lose themselves in their own thoughts or in the mountains of books. Promising adventures and beasts of all kinds.

Dipper slowly shut the door, hearing Steven outside cursing, “S-shouldn’t we help him?” Hesitating to lock the door.

She simply shrugged and pulled out a chair, “He’ll be fine, I didn’t kick him that hard.” Dipper fidgeted with the lock before with a resigned sigh, he locked it.

A muffled shout of irritance sounded outside of the door, with a slam on the door, it seemed McGoneroy gave up. Dipper took a long inhale the stuffy and stale air entering his lungs, he breathed out his words with an equally long exhale, “You’re going to get expelled one of these days.”

Ling glanced at him, in the usual indifferent mask she wore, “I know, I’m expecting it.” The boy slipped his bag onto the table and sat down. The Asian spoke up again, “I might move to some shoddy little town far away from here,” Ling grabbed hold of a book and began flipping it open, skimming through the pages. “Of course, I’d have to finish my education here but,” their eyes met Dipper’s for a moment, “I’d probably never make it through. Be booted before the end of the school year I tell ya.”

Dipper snorted, “You doubt yourself too much, you’re one of the school’s top students, academic wise, you’re a prodigy.” He snerked and quietly added on, “A prodigy with violent tendencies.”

“Not my fault _someone_ always gets in trouble.” Ling retorts with a lilt in their voice. The Pines boy rolled his eyes, _my knight in shining armor..._ the other clapped the book closed and bounded to his side, “Enough sap, let's get to work, where’s the triangle?” To respond to their enthusiasm, the boy carefully brought Bill out of his bag, he had slid off his cushion a little... Dipper knitted his brow together, he’ll have to make something that’ll be a bit more comfortable for the demon when he gets home, maybe instead of a terrarium he could try a padded flooring? Ling’s voice snapped him out of his daze, “He’s still alive yeah?”

Dipper unscrewed the lid and carefully tilted the jar to the side, letting the demon slide into his grasp. Bill’s body was the same as usual. His single eye closed, the top hat slack and flopped over to the side, with arms and legs limp. Despite being in this seemingly dead state, his small yellow body seemed to pulsate with a strange warmth, “Yeah, he feels warm when I hold him.”

“Personal hand warmer.” The girl snerked as they went to grab one of the books off of Dipper’s work table, brushing the covers lightly of any dust that may have collected over the weekends. Ling flipped it open and started pacing around the room, eyes scanning the pages, “So, did you come up with a theory as to why he’s slumbering?”

Humming to himself as he searched his bag for his notebook, flipping it open he scanned through his jumbled notes, landing on the one he circled in red, “I believe that after leaving the town, the barrier has a neutralizer that makes sure, if anything were to escape, was put to sleep... so they cannot disturb the outside world.”

“Seems... reasonable?” Ling placed the book down on the pages. The book was open on a page about barriers and while Dipper was interested, he had to go through another pile. “I’ve read about several barriers in the world that attract anomalies and traps them inside there.” She hummed for a moment before grabbing a wrapped candy from the pocket of their blue parka, “It seems our buddy here, was one of them.” The Asian stated before popping a hard orange candy into their mouth.

Dipper ran a thumb along Bill’s surface, “Do you think being trapped is a good reason to hurt people?”

“Personally?” Ling rolled the candy to the other side of her mouth. “Yes. A trapped beast will naturally want to break out, right?” Dipper watched them rap a finger against the table, an impatient look on their face, brows furrowed in thought as they studied the demon in his hands.

The boy dipped his head down, unsure of what to say. He tilted Bill in the other’s direction, “Do you want to hold him?”

Ling looked at him long and hard before pushing herself off of the table, taking a few steps away from Dipper. They unwrapped another hard candy, another one in an orange wrapper, “I would suggest, that you do not let others touch the demon. It would be disrespectful after all.” Popping the treat into their mouth, the teen began rummaging through the pile of books again. “You wouldn’t like a stranger putting their hands all over you while you’re sleeping, yeah?”

“Oh...I see.” Dipper deflated and carefully placed Bill on the table, the demon’s small hands being held between the boy’s fingers. “I just thought you-”

“You know, you’re too trusting Dipper Pines.” Ling cut him off, pulling out a blue leather covered book that has seen better days. Dipper tilted his head to the side, there was a symbol reminiscent of a pine tree on it... the symbol unnerved him. A _Pine Tree_ , he could practically hear Bill laughing at the coincidence, Ling shouldn’t know about his nickname so... this was unsettling.

Dull coffee colored eyes met reddish brown ones, they stayed like this, locked in a staring contest for a good minute before the Asian broke it off in favor of flipping through the blue book. The other teen smirked, chuckling lightly as she pushed her glasses further up her nose, Ling opened the book and scanned the page before flipping to the next page... and then the next and then the next.

Dipper watched as a grin crossed her face just before slamming the poor book beside the brunet, the action causing him to jump a little, “Here,” Ling tapped the page, and said, “this is what you were looking for right? Well, this is some, strange writer’s ramblings on multiverses and alternate timelines.”

A lump formed in Dipper’s throat at the other’s words. With the utmost care, he picked up Bill, laid him on the page as a makeshift paperweight, before taking ahold of the book and bringing it closer to him. He scanned over the first page of the chapter, it was the same spiel as he expected. String theory, quantum mechanics musings of the different possibilities within each multiverse and questions upon whether or not there was a reality where all of this chaos began or was based on. His eyes then hit one section that stood out.

“The idea of constants and variables across multiverses strikes me in particular. Throughout my years, studying theories on existential philosophy, it all seemed to speak about the possibility of life in other multiverses. It is completely possible, that there is a set code the multiverse plays by. Coincidences do not happen, random is not random. There is an alarmingly large amount of careful math and calculations which play major roles in the universe, without them, nothing can exist. Therefore, if the multiverse were to exist, we can apply the same idea to them.

The way the story is told and how the outcome will turn out maybe different. However, their stories are similar if not, identical, in _concept_ , _that_ is a constant.

I believe that no matter what, there will be a set event that will occur. That event would determine the start of a new—”

“Dipper. You need to take a breather, damn man.” The girl teased as the boy quietly took a breath. He hadn’t realized he was reciting the passage out loud, his face was flushed and a light feeling twirled in his head.

“S-sorry.” He finally said in the silence that tried to settle in. “I like this book, where did you get this?”

Ling gave him a curt smile before reaching out and taking the book from him, not before Dipper could snatch Bill off the page. He held the demon to his chest. “You have your secrets Pines, I have mine.”

Their response made the boy sigh in discontent, “Fine how about a trade?”

Dipper’s words seemed to have instantly perked them up, “What kind of trade?”

“You tell me where you got this book and I’ll tell you something in return.”

The old run of the mill, you tell me this and I’ll tell you that. Dipper could have thought of something better but at the current moment, he could not be assed. Ling smiled and crossed their arms on the table, “I’ll go first then. Are you still having nightmares?”

Dipper blinked, what a simple and honestly underwhelming question, “... That’s... all you wanted to know?”

“Got a problem with that?” she asked with a serious expression.

Taken aback slightly, Dipper scratched the back of his neck, “No I just thought you would ask something more... okay, yeah, no nevermind. Uh... yes—yes, I am still having nightmares.”

Ling nodded, “Okay, thanks.” They bluntly responded before picking up a book. After awhile of Dipper staring at them they finally realized they forgot about answering, “Oh right...I stole this book from someone.”

The boy scoffed, rolling his eyes in response, “from who?”

The girl winked and wagged a finger, “Ah-ah-ah~, I gave you a valid answer. I have no requirement to tell you _that_ ,” the minx said with a lilt in their voice. Dipper groaned and settled back into his seat, disappointed with the response. Ling picked up on that and continued, “However, I’ll give you some advice for compensation. You said that your little friend there is a dream demon, yeah? Well despite being known for creating nightmares. They also eat them.” Dipper immediately perked up at her words causing her to smile. “You see, consuming regular dreams aren’t as rewarding as nightmares. As fear is the greatest power there is...” The teen paused and twirled a strand of their hair.

After a pause, she added, “You should sleep with the triangle.”

Dipper blinked.  

“ _Excuse_ me _what_?” Just as he said that, immediately the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break. _Talk about saved by the bell._ Dipper groaned and grabbed hold of his jar, taking his time placing the demon back into it.

“Are you going to be alright this block?” Ling asked, strolling over to him with their fingers dragging along the surface of the table.

Dipper felt a vein twitch under his eye, “of course. I don’t need a knight to protect me. I can fight perfectly fine on my own.” He snapped back as he began placing the jar back into his backpack.

“Sure.” The other went to the door, unlocking it and looking around outside. The older teen gave him the a-ok, signaling that there were no signs of aggressors in the halls. He dipped his head slightly in silent thanks before rushing out the door, as he sped walked away he heard Ling calling out to him, just as he turned the corner, “See you tomorrow Dipper! Tell me how your night goes with your little friend.” He rolled his eyes and tugged on the straps of his bag, his mind occupied with the contents of the blue leather book.

_“Constants and variables...”_

✦✦✦

The boy sighed through his nose as Mabel opened the door to their apartment, it was already nightfall by the time they reached home. The living room was dark as usual, no signs of activity or life exhibited in the cold room, despite a pair of heels by the doorway, lazily kicked into a corner. After dropping his bag off and taking Bill out of it, the twins sauntered into the kitchen, “Do you want anything to eat Mabel?”

Placing the demon down the counter, he got started, gathering the ingredients to make their dinner. His twin gave him an incredulous look, “ _You’re_ cooking today?” Dipper narrowed his eyes at her before slowly nodding, Mabel shook her head and formed an X with her arms, “Nuh-uh. That ain’t happening, I don’t want anymore burnt food.”

The boy rolled his eyes and opened up a cabinet, taking out a medium sized pot. “And I don’t want any glitter in my eggs.”

“Glitter is my aesthetic,” Mabel stated pompously before taking a hold of the bottle of glitter and shaking it in front of Dipper’s face, “besides! It’s _edible_ glitter.”

“That doesn’t mean anything! The texture of glitter feels awful!” He could feel the grainy eggs in his mouth from breakfast, the boy turned his sister around and helped her tie up her hair, “Look, I’m just going to make some pasta for us, you can heat the sauce, but no glitter.”

Mabel shrugged and slapped Dipper with her ponytail, before nodding enthusiastically, “Italian food never looked good with glitter anyways.” She stated her opinion like a fact before pulling up a small stool and standing upon it. Dipper sighed and began scouring the cabinets for the pasta. Eventually finding it tucked away in the very back of one filled with medication and dried wheat products. Mabel was a dear and had already filled the pot with water, she turned the dial on the stove and started working on the sauce. The two hummed along to a song together, not too loudly in fear of awaking their mother... _if_ she was asleep, the two never knew.

“Pasta incoming. Nyooooom,” Mabel played with a bundle of the spaghetti, waving it around in the air like a plane before dropping it into the boiling water quietly crying out, “mayday! Mayday! Plane going down, major error in systems! We’re all going to die!” She made a small “boom” to emphasize the fact, everything on the pasta plane is dead.

The boy chuckled and handed her the olive oil. Mabel took it and immediately went to work on the pasta sauce, cutting up some extra herbs in the meantime as Dipper stirred the strands of spaghetti in the pot. Dipper said as he studied the pasta strands as the water bubbled and boiled. His gaze then shifted to Mabel who cheerily dropped some basil into the sauce and continued to stir it, adding some salt and pepper into the mix.

“Dipper...” Mabel said quietly as she stared at the pasta sauce, her voice was silent and muted as she continued, “we might not be able to go back to Gravity Falls this summer.”

He already knew that, with all the stress that his mother and father were going through, they wanted to visit their grandfather, Shermy. Dipper watched the pasta sit for a few minutes with his dull eyes before grabbing a wooden spoon and stirring the strands floating in the water. The boy longed for the safety and _familiarity_ of Gravity Falls but he loved his parents no matter how different they may seem lately, a break for them to reconnect with their own family was something important to the twins. “I know, Mabel.”

 _Ah_... It seemed that the pasta was ready so he began scooping it out and straining them of water. Placing them on a plate, he let Mabel do the work. Watching her pour the sauce onto it, mouth watering a little. Dipper hummed happily and went to grab two forks, heading out into the dining room. Deciding to leave the demon behind knowing how uncomfortable Bill’s presence and the jar made Mabel.

Two seconds later his sister popped out of the kitchen with two plates in hand, her fingers supporting it as she sauntered over to him. “Dinner is served.” She announced pridefully. The boy giggled as she placed his serving down. They both mentally agreed not to talk about not returning to Gravity Falls and began chatting about other things as they scarfed down their food, occasionally chattering about the latest episode of some cartoons or about the skype calls Mabel gets from both Candy, Grenda and surprisingly Pacifica. It seems like ever since her family became bankrupt, Pacifica has gone to Mabel for life advice and moral support.

“All in all, Paz is hoping we return to Gravity Falls, she said that despite being poor now, she’s been having a great time working at the shack in our place.” Dipper smiled at her, it was good to hear that she and Pacifica had become close friends ever since their golfing incident. The male twin on the other hand... never got to talk to her for longer than a minute, she wasn’t fond of his _“smell”_ as she put it and thus, never hung out with him. Maybe his hatred for the blond was unwarranted, he wished that during that _one party_ he accepted her plea for help instead of Mabel. Not just because her adventure sounded interesting and her encounter with the mansion’s ghost but that, they could have become friends, or _at least_ come to tolerate her ingratitude and pompous attitude.

“Watch her start up an opposing Mystery Shack when we come back.” Dipper joked, dodging a slap to the arm from Mabel.

His sister grinned with a quirked brow. “Hush! She’s not that mean!” She twirled her fork in the pasta and lifted a bundle to her lips, they continued their meal for a moment before she quickly said, “Oh yeah! Dipper there’s gonna be a party! Luce invited me and said that she wanted you to come as well.”

A party? The event where a bunch of loud teens are hanging out and possibly getting wasted while making bad life decisions in a suffocatingly tight room where people could steal things from you without noticing? Stealing _the jar_ that every one of her friends seemed interested in. “I don’t think I’ll fit in, Mabel.”

“Come _on, Dipper_!” pleased his sister, “I want you to be with you! Everyone wanted to meet you, besides! I'm bringing Ling with us! They’re expecting you at the party.”

Something about this party seemed sketchy, his gut didn’t like the feeling and unfortunately, his dreams haven’t helped him when it came to anywhere outside of Gravity Falls. He didn’t know what could happen and what wouldn’t and when it came to Mabel, her safety worried him to no end. Dipper swore he was going to have silver hair by the time he’s in his early thirties because of his twin.

However, he loved her and letting her go by herself was a horrible idea, it was better for him to be with her than for her to go without him. So, despite his distaste towards parties, he smiled and said, “Okay Mabel, but I’m only going _for you_.”

“Yes!” She gulped down the rest of the pasta on her pate before shooting out of her seat in triumph. “I’ll put together our outfits! We’re going to look _great_!” Mabel pushed away from the table and picked up her plate as Dipper quickly tried to finish his meal. “We should clean up and go to our room.”

Dipper who still had one string of noodle—the last noodle—gave her a nod and followed after her with his plate. The boy dropped the dish off in the sink that was piled with dishes from breakfast, lunch and now dinner, and pulled on some gloves. Mabel hopped over to him, humming slightly. “Bro-bro would make a good housewife, if only you didn’t burn your food.”

“If that is the case. I’ll keep burning the food.” He responded bluntly. His twin filled the other side of the sink with bleach and water before helping him with the dish soap. It was always like this, Mabel dried the dishes and Dipper washed them.

Lately, these days the brunet had been anxious, he wasn’t sure of what but it could have been all the horrible nightmares he’s had of his sister’s death and they terrified him beyond understanding. He couldn’t lose her, they were twins, Mabel had been there for him, she gave up on her sock opera for him and helped him with the laptop, though, of course, Bill still destroyed it. She had been... more than supportive of his idea of trapping Bill so he couldn’t hurt anyone despite the costs.

After a good minute of dish washing, Dipper spilled out, “I hope it stays like this forever.”

The elder twin grinned and bumped her brother’s elbow, “You and I will always be twins Dipper, no matter what. Mabel and Dipper! Forever!” She took one of the dishes and started drying it, “Why the sudden sentimentality?”

Dipper smiled, “am I not allowed to be sentimental?”

“Sentimentality doesn’t suit you.” She tapped him on the shoulder just as she finished the last dish. Dipper turned off the tap and pulled the plug on the bleach-filled sink. He washed the gloves and the sink as his sister put away the dishes into its rightful places.

Once in their room, Dipper listened to his sister ramble on about what clothes they were going to go in, apparently, she wanted to wear clothes that were matching but “different”. He stood there in the doorway watching her with blank eyes and a smile before placing Bill down on his nightstand, Dipper went to his closet joining Mabel’s side as he pulled out his pajamas. The girl gave her brother a look as she held a black ruffle skirt and a beige sweater up. With a quirked brow, she asked, “You aren’t going to take a shower?”

“I don’t need it, didn’t do anything today that required a lot of exercise.” The boy waved her off dismissively, he tugged off his t-shirt and slipped into his PJ before moving to his pants.

To which, Mabel made a clear sound of disapproval as she turned away. “Dipper that’s gross, you need to keep your hygiene in check.” She stated as he pulled up his PJ.

“It’s late, I’ll take one tomorrow since I have PE.” The boy shrugged and flopped onto his bed and cuddled with his pillow. His sister sighed in resignation before putting her outfit onto their desk and took out a towel from their closet. She skipped to the door and slowly opened it.

“Going to sleep, Dipper?” he nodded his head absentmindedly. “Alright! Goodnight!” She said before exiting the room, the boy yawned and looked at the demon that rested in his jar.

Bill laid in the jar unmoving and still as a corpse, of course, he wasn’t one, he was just sleeping and Dipper knew that. He recalled Ling’s advice, where the Chinese girl had told him that he should try sleeping with Bill beside him. A part of him thought that was a _horrible_ idea and that Bill could potentially hurt him if he still had control of Dipper’s mindscape. However... the promise of sleeping without horrible nightmares of Mabel dying in such pristine detail...

With a sigh, he gave in and opened the demon’s prison, carefully taking the demon out.

There were more benefits of having the demon on their side, than against.

The brunet closed his eyes and knitted his brow together. Tucking away all his conscience's complaints and concerns before lying down upon his bed. The demon in his hands. His dull brown eyes burrowed into Bill’s sleeping form, before bringing it closer to his body, cradling the triangle at his chest. The warmth emitting from him slowly lulling him into sleep. He doesn’t know if this was going to work, but if it works, it works.

With the thought of Gravity Falls heavy on his mind, he fell asleep.

The next morning, he awoke with no recollection of his dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really proud of this chapter, I rushed through it while editing. 
> 
> Also, sorry if the original character bothered you. She'll only be around as an exposition piece and a Dues Ex Machina until the twins go back to Gravity Falls, which is in Chapter Eight.   
> Hopefully, I can write up the other chapters after Seven so I can upload the boring seven chapters of the PLOT SETUP within this week and finally get to the 'Fucked up Friendship of Bill Cipher and Dipper Pines'.  
> Currently, after spending one-night editing, I'm working on Chapter Eight.
> 
> Thank you for reading and thank you for the support I've been receiving!


	4. Protect Mabel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Don’t just give me a “what”, Pinetree."

The party was right after school, and thanks to some explaining on Mabel’s part, Dipper had learned that it wasn’t one of those horribly stereotypical ‘everyone getting drunk and puking up their guts’ high school party. Not that Dipper had an _issue_ with that, god knows how many of those parties Wendy and her gang went to and since he was apart of their crew, he would have as well. No, he had nothing wrong with the concept of getting together with friends and drinking while making horrible life decisions, after all, people, needed to make mistakes to be able to learn from them. What he had against it, was usually the noise… by the noise, he meant horrible songs that sell sex to children which happen to be _terribly_ overplayed on the radio and quickly lose its luster after a few replays.

Now, if this party they were going to wasn’t one like that, one could imagine it would be a bomb. Gone off earlier than expected and blown all fun out of the atmosphere. Uh, well, that wasn’t the case either. It was actually a farewell party for someone’s last day at high school, specifically the one that the twins went to. It was _unabashedly_ sweet of their friends to put such a large gathering together and celebrate their friend’s last day with them and so when Dipper heard about this, he couldn’t say no, even if he had never met this person. However, knowing the type of kid they were saying goodbye to, he empathized with them. On a day like this, they needed a distraction and the more distractions there were, new faces, best friends, food, tasty fruit punches, and all their favorite songs, the better off they would be. Of course, there was also a high possibility that they will regret this party. Feeling guilty and alone once they’re left the state. But that regretful feeling is better saved for later than when you were still here with everyone.

Regardless, Dipper came her for his sister, to protect her from creepazoids—or in some cases, protecting her new victims of infatuation. He didn’t need a repeat of Mermando even worse is if he’ll have to give CPR to the newest Mabel’s love goggle victim.

The twins were driven over here by Luce’s elder brother who didn’t speak the entire time. Not because he was bored but from the looks of it—because, Dipper… may or may not have been staring at his reflection in the rear-view mirror—was extremely shy. “We’re here,” he announced quietly but loud enough for the kids in the back of the car to hear. Like a breaking dam, everyone rushed out of the vehicle as if simulating an uncontained flood.

“Thanks, bro!” Luce shouted before running and hopping into the arms of her friends already at the party, the golden blonde’s hug-tackle was followed up by Mabel who wrapped her arms around Ling and lifted the _older_ girl up in a bear tight hug. Obviously, his sister’s steel crushing grip was uncomfortable even for the tough-skinned Chinese.

Dipper breathed a heavy sigh as he stared at the large gathering of people greeting each other. As much as he hated to admit it, he was jealous of Mabel’s socialite personality, a part of him wished he could be greeted in such an enthusiastic manner, though that was just wishful thinking. Somehow, Dipper felt like if he led a life like her’, it would not be for him. Dipper didn’t find it hard to be with more than one person or connecting with more than one person, no, he was scared of disappointing them. So far, there was only one person he _knew_ wouldn’t see him as anything other than who he was, and that was his twin.

With a clear of his throat, the boy stepped out of the car, thanking Luce’s brother for the ride and then stepping out of the car with Bill’s jar in hand.

God, he must look ridiculous, carrying around the dream demon in this state. However, again, he had no choice, he had to keep an eye on the demon and the jar itself.

Bill seemed to be sleeping rather comfortably today as well.

“Dip-dop!” Mabel called out for him, “come on in already! Stop standing in the driveway!”

“Coming Mabel!” shouted Dipper as he ran to his sister’s side.

✦✦✦

Dipper sat in the corner after having chatted and greeted all of Mabel’s friends, or at least those in Luce’s group, more than pleased that these people seemed like nice people—he had worried about Mabel hanging with the wrong crowd but it seemed like his worries were unwarranted. The golden blonde with a fluffy bob cut was as bright and enigmatic as the sun, she was a natural born leader that people flocked to not just because she was interesting but because she was unpredictable. Dipper found it hard for him to understand her motive but, the amber-eyed girl seemed kind-hearted despite her erratic behavior so he didn’t try to pry into her psyche. Of course, while Mabel’s friends were all cool people, there was a bit too much excitement being spread around for him. So, after speaking with them for an hour or so, the brunet resigned himself to a corner to take a breather and… drink some punch as he watched people.

He watched as Mabel excused herself to the bathroom as her friend, Luce, changed the what was currently playing, deciding to switch up the genres and subject everyone to some electro swing. Their chatter quickly faded into the background, mixing into trumpets, xylophones—or that could possibly be a marimba—and the voice of a woman’s smooth voice. He took another sip of the punch in his hand, it was delicious, the taste warmed his stomach and made him shiver, he loved the cinnamon added to the sweet drink.

A few minutes passed and Mabel still hadn’t returned…

He began scanning the group, checking for any signs of a familiar fluffy sweater within the crowd of young teens talking about the newest TV show they were obsessed with.

“What’s the wallflower doing?” A familiar female voice asked. Dipper’s attention tore away from the crowd to see his friend, Ling in her usual blue parka—what was she doing? Sure, it may still be decently cold out but, they were inside… he greeted her with a small smile before turning his body to her. “Such a calm party, I was honestly expecting something chaotic, considering the person your sister is.”

Mabel was quite the… calamity in human skin, even he expected her to be coking up on smile dip and going whack crazy with her friends. Something like this? He would have called it a get together instead, not a party. “Yeah well, she also loves food so many that was a drive for her.” Dipper jested as he held Bill’s jar closer to him.

He could feel a few gazes on him due to the object but, luckily, no one has asked about it.

“Anyways, how was your rest last night?” his friend asked with a grin, “I’m assuming you slept with the triangle by your side?”

“Yeah, I did,” Dipper paused, “how did you know?”

The Asian was perceptive, Dipper knew that but, he didn’t expect her to realize that his sleep was a peaceful one. He waited for a response and after Ling popped an orange hard candy into her mouth, she answered, “Your black bags have cleared up, just a little, though, they’re still there and ungodly dark but, it is an improvement.”

He couldn’t help it, he brought a hand up to touch his eyes and gently stroke the skin under his tired lids as if doing that would tell him how much it’s changed. “Yeah, I slept well, thanks for the advice.”

“Hey, no problem man, I’ve got your back.” That was good to hear, she had been very loyal to the twins even though they haven’t returned the favor. He felt somewhat guilty about that. Ling got back up and popped her knuckles, she offered Dipper a polite dip of the head—a semi-bow—before saying, “Anyways, I’m going to go find Mabel, I haven’t seen her in awhile.”

Right, Mabel, that was what he was looking for awhile ago.

_Yeah me too_ , he agreed internally. Dipper got up with Ling as he glanced around their surroundings looking for a girl with a fluffy white sweater and a plaid red skirt—really, it was more so a kilt than a _skirt_. The boy glanced around the room full of people chatting away with no care in the word, he felt his throat tighten in anticipation and worry and his brows knit together as he stalked out of the room. He couldn’t find her in the crowd and could feel his heart speeding up. Something was off.

Mabel wasn’t in the hallway, she wasn’t in the kitchen with the home economics students, Dipper even looked upstairs as well, and after knocking on every closed or locked door in the house calling for her name, he didn’t find her. She wouldn’t ignore him, while he has done that and he has given her the silent treatment for a day, Mabel couldn’t keep up the façade for long, breaking in under a few minutes and rambling off about something mundane and ridiculously hilarious to Dipper. So, her lack of response was either from something keeping her from speaking or she was not inside the building…

Worry sunk into him as he quickly descended the stairs and ran out of the house, people around him completely ignored him in his panicked state as they chatted amongst themselves.

“Mabel!” he shouted, “Mabel!” he repeated. Again, and again only to find no response. Dipper began running as he searched for his sister, panicking as he could not see her anywhere on the front lawn.

“Mabel!” He screamed, now that one caught the attention of some teens inside the house.

The boy decided to ignore them in favor of listening for his sister.

And instead of hearing his sister, Dipper heard someone curse. Their voice was close by. Now, normally a sound such as someone cursing shouldn’t be a problem but living in Gravity Falls had taught him that, _nothing could be trusted_. A curse meant a lament on completing or in the middle of completing an action. It could range from the mundane such as sitting down to something said after realizing you’ve killed someone. The way this stranger said it was in a quiet tone. It was obvious that they were careless in concealing themselves and that they knew Dipper was around.

Something was wrong.

He ran for the voice and low and behold, around the house and to the small path that led from the backyard to the front. He slowed his steps as he heard someone struggling—someone, only one person—they were doing something that was taxing to only them. The brunet pressed himself against the wall and peeked around the corner… Low and behold, Dipper found someone dragging his sister by the arm while she was unconscious. He was tall, skinny, pale, and very much _creepy_.

He should call for help, get someone to back him up and assist him in taking down the boy several feet taller than him because Dipper was thirteen, he had no power to overthrow this person. He knew what he should do and had a plan a… poorly stitched together plan but a plan nonetheless of how he would take this person down.

The image of his sister kneeling on the floor choking on blood with her stomach slit open popped into his head.

Dipper lurched as he felt a bit of puke rise to his mouth. He could _smell_ the coppery scent of blood and viscera, he could _hear_ her. Mabel was crying, she wasn’t safe, Mabel was—

“ _I’m going to KILL you_!” The words left Dipper’s mouth before he could fully understand what was happening. The stranger who was holding onto his sister dropped her. His eerie red eyes met his dull brown ones, and for the split second, they maintained contact… Dipper thought of something dumb.

He wanted to smash the jar containing Bill, over the man’s head and bash their skull open with the blunt object, and since the jar would never break, he could actually do that…

…And for some reason… he actually went through with that idea. He tossed the jar onto the ground allowing it to roll forwards then charged at the older boy.

Dipper… was not a physically capable person, however, a small voice in the back of his mind egged him on, telling him exactly where he needed to hit to knock someone larger than him down. _First, if the man tried to grab or throw a punch at you, you strike him in either the throat or nose with your elbow_. Dipper did just that and got the boy in the nose, giving his opponent a bloody nose in the process. _Next, you circle around him and go for his legs, good job Pinetree, now use the blackjack on his head._ He had no blackjack but, Dipper did have a jar just a foot away from him. While the pale boy was recovering, Dipper grabbed the jar and mentally apologized to the demon before bringing it down on the stranger.

Dipper was not physically capable… and because of that, his attacks meant nothing to a demon who had fully processed what was happening and who the threat was. It grabbed his arm at inhuman speeds, stopping the jar from connecting with its head. The sudden stop threw the jar out of Dipper’s grip and onto the ground. The boy who was now caught by the red-eyed monster whimpered when the glass container violently hit the ground, the sharp pain in his entire body snapped him out of his trance and back to reality. He should never use that thing as a weapon, that was just a _bad idea_.

“ _Useless_.” The demon said as their fingers wrapped around Dipper’s slender neck and began to squeeze the life out of the dull-eyed boy. He couldn’t fight back the grip as this person began choking him of air. Those piercing red eyes watched as he absentmindedly clawed at the demon’s wrists. Dipper’s ears rung, brain buzzed and filled with cotton before his eyes began to roll back into his head.

The last thing he heard was several footsteps a loud and wet _crunch_ —or was it a crack—before he was let go. The boy’s body fell limply to the ground as the world around him faded to black.

✦✦✦

Dipper awoke in a strange, monochrome world. He looked around, taking in the sight of the towering trees above, the majority were Pines, occasionally there were a few birch trees, however, those that were not pines, seemed to have eyes growing in their bark. The boy shuddered and stood up, unnerved by the way those eyes seemed to follow his movements. The ground was normal dirt with twigs and small stones scattered about the forest floor. His hand went up to rub his sore throat which seemed less painful now that he was in this world. One more look around he realized where he could possibly be. It was concerning how _“Bill”_ this place was, so concerning that Dipper came to the conclusion, that he was in _his_ mindscape. Like Grunkle Stan’s but less… old and creepy.

No sound came from the leaves he stepped on underneath, the air was stale and hard to breathe and above all, everything was muted; muted to such a degree that if Dipper stood still and waited, he could hear a very, _very_ loud drumming in his ears. It was like an isolation chamber, one of those things that people sat in for hours on end alone and trapped with only themselves to keep them company.

Dipper shivered as he watched the eyes staring at him.

“Bill?” He quietly called out. Unsure if that was a wise decision or an _extremely_ bad one because as soon as that four-lettered word escaped his lips, all the eyes on the trees turned up with visible joy in them, he glanced around wondering where the demon was going to come from.

“Well, well, well, well, WELL. Look at what the cat dragged in!” He flinched at the sound of the demon’s echoed, high-pitched voice, his cheerful mocking tone in such a silence grated his ears. “My little INSIGNIFICANT FRIEND and HORRIBLE WARDEN, Dipper Pines!” He swallowed and leaned up against a tree, in a weak attempt to steady himself and to make sure the demon doesn’t surprise him by appearing behind him. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a well thought out plan as the tree’s branches quickly wrapped around him, locking him in a tight hold.

“How is this possible? You should be dormant!” Dipper shouted at nothing in particular. He bit down on his lips, worrying it as he waited for a response.

The demon chuckled, as he clapped his hands, the sound ringed in his head and reverberated in his skull. “Hey now! I’m just as confused as you are as to why you’re backstage. But, don’t think I was ENTIRELY helpless. My body might be inactive but the mind is something else entirely.” Dipper watched as a stone floated into the air, rounding itself out. “In fact, YOU were the one who woke me up, letting me feast on your nightmares.” The stone turned itself and a silted pupil appeared. Bill’s appearance came when fancy _‘for show’_ flames burst to life from thin air and swallowed up the smoothed stone, the flames materialized and from the blue fire, emerged the yellow dream demon, patting down his hat of invisible dust.

“Which by the way, tasted great! NO IDEA what they were about, though, so THAT’S disappointing, but eh—beggars can’t be choosers.” The demon said as he placed his hat back onto his head, his eye expressing his apparent _glee_ to see the thirteen-year-old. “So, what’s up kid? Fill me in on the details. What happened before you went to sleep?”

“What?”

Bill rolled his eyes, he gave Dipper a pointed look of disapproval. “Don’t just give me a _“what”_ , Pinetree, I know you aren’t smart but, I’m giving you the benefit of doubt,” All the boy bound to the tree, could respond was a choked “wh’ of uncertainty as he stared dumbly at the demon, unsure of what he needed to tell him.

The triangle threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, ‘walking’ away from Dipper in the air, “Wow, okay then. Well, if you want an EXPLANATION, let me tell you this. You aren't supposed to be here and couldn’t be here without being under the influence of a demon. Now you might say _“But, Bill! You are a demon!”_ Well yes, good observation, of course, I’M A FUCKING DEMON. But UNFORTUNATELY, _I’m_ in a SHITTY JAR, _SLEEPING_.” He stopped himself and put his hands behind his back, Bill turned around, his bricks returning to its yellow hue. “So, that means YOU encountered another demon. Who, APPARENTLY knows about me.”

A demon? Dipper tilted his head to the side as he pondered what happened before passing out like Bill had ordered him to do before his rather insulting explanation. Though of course, he was doing it for himself and not for the demon and _unfortunately,_ he could not recall anything. Dipper closed his eyes and furrowed his brow as he tried to remember what he was doing. Mabel… it was something to do with his sister… yes, he was with Mabel and… she was… she was…

Dipper blanked he honestly answered, “If I had, I would be able to remember my encounter with them. But, it seems I don’t… so I’m assuming they erased that memory from my head.”

Bill dipped forwards slightly, one hand rubbing the brick below his bowtie in thought, he hummed, “You didn’t have it wiped, I would be the first to know. There is a possibility that something FEASTED AND DINED on your memories without my permission, but most demons are reckless and don’t know how to avoid me so I would also notice that.” The demon stilled as he played with his bowtie, with an angry growl, he asked, “Okay, how about you go into detail about the last thing you remember?”

The last thing he remembers? Dipper licked his lips before carefully responding, “I was… trying to find Mabel after she went to the bathroom and didn’t come back. I went outside and heard someone curse… and then…”

“FOR FUCKS SAKE KID! You speak like a damn tortoise and even _they_ are more intelligent than you!” Bill snapped.

“Well, _I’m_ sorry! I can’t remember!”

“Bitch you can, you just think you can’t!” Bill summoned his cane and smacked the young boy in the crown of his head with the pole. With a commanding tone, he shouted, “THINK HARDER.”

“What was that for?!” Dipper shouted as tears began to well up, he didn’t need this, he needed to go help, Mabel! She was hurt, he was hurt—… Wait… no, Bill was jogging his memory of the incident, in a rather _mean_ way but it was helpful in the end. The hit left his head whining as it turned and began piecing together images and blurry recollections of what happened. His memory of the event wasn’t very clear but it _was_ there. And whatever was locked away that came back, he was not happy with it.

Mabel was on the ground unconscious and a person was dragging her away. “Mabel was being dragged away and I was being strangled.”

Bill hummed, looking pleased with the notion of Dipper in pain, he swung the cane back and forth as he said in a chipper tone, “Well… it seems like either you got KIDNAPPED—or KILLED though then again your mindscape is still active so I doubt you’re dead.”

“Oh god, _Mabel_.” Dipper choked as the realization dawned on him, the sinking truth of the situation dawned on him.

Looking down at the despondent child, Bill grinned and poked the boy with the cane in his hand, _right_ on his birthmark. The yellow demon mused happily, “Calling for a god that won’t answer you is ridiculous. HOWEVER, you do have someone who is an equivalent of one—”

“You have to help! You—You have to do _something_! _Anything_! I can’t lose Mabel. Please—” Dipper blanched, his blood flooded from his face. He began struggling aimlessly in the grasp of the tree, “I need to wake up! I need to find Mabel!” He exclaimed, on the verge of sobbing when he realized he couldn’t break free.

Bill—t _he asshole_ —was getting an extreme high off of seeing Dipper suffer and while he knew that, he was too terrified for him to care about the demon’s sadistic nature. With a self-conceited giggle, the demon said, “I KNOW you _need_ to find your sister and that you _will_ wake up, _eventually_. But Pinetree, _how_ will you be able to help her?” The demon’s attention now fully on the boy.

Dipper didn’t even need to think before practically _screaming_ , “A deal! I’ll make a deal with you!” he sobbed, “ _Please_ , you need to help Mabel…”

“I’m asleep outside of your mind, kid.” Bill bluntly stated he turned “Hm… but I suppose I could give you something to PROTECT your sister… I’ll even wake you up the instant the deal is made!”

Upon Bill’s agreement, Dipper’s erratic breathing calmed, he sniffled and asked, “What are the terms?”

“Simple,” Bill snapped his fingers and a gold triangular pendant on a thin gold chain appeared out of nowhere. It was rather gaudy and a bit _obvious_ , anyone could see _‘Bill’_ written onto its surface, Dipper’s gaze flickered between the accessory and the yellow demon as he clasped it around Dipper’s neck wearing a sick look of _delight_ on his faceless, face. After ensuring that it was on properly, Bill backed up slightly to get a look of it hanging around Dipper’s neck before grabbing it and giving it a rough jerk forwards in a manner that screamed _‘I-could-strangle-you-with-this’_.

Feeling accomplished, Bill let go of the chain and said, “I used some of my residue magic to make this pendant for you. So, listen up kid, if you grab hold of it while thinking about your sister’s safety, a bubble will form around Shooting Star. The sphere will keep anyone who doesn’t have your blood, from touching it and anyone who does, will either be ELECTROCUTED or their HAIR WILL SET ON FIRE. Now since my services don’t come free of charge. In exchange, you have to free me the moment you get back to Gravity Fa—”

“No, this isn’t how it’s going to work,” Dipper stated, evenly and firmly. He eyed the demon with a steady yet teary gaze. Dipper’s heart still pounded in his chest but he had to calm down, if his dreams taught him anything, it was that, being distressed will lead to failure. He shakily took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

“This is… the best I can offer,” Dipper paused for a moment, trying to remember the conditions to Bill’s deals he had wrote in his book, he had been planning for this. “How about this? You can mark me, anywhere you want on my body, that _won’t_ be questionable and the mark must be smaller than a quarter. Spellbind whatever you want to that mark, as long as the enchantment doesn’t harm other people, lead me to hurt others—n-nor kill me.” His voice gave away at the end, his voice cracking in the uncertainty of his terms.

Bill gave the boy a long and blank stare.

Under the scrutiny of the yellow-eyed demon, Dipper felt his heart speeding up again, it threatened to burst out of his chest and onto the gray forest floor bellow, he was honest to god _petrified_ , by both Bill and now the memory of his sister being dragged away. Hopefully, when he wakes up he could save her.

Dipper’s wide doe-like eyes glanced up at the silent dream demon who remained quiet, watching him with n unblinking gaze before _finally_ saying, “… Are you giving me a free card to _torture_ you?”

Of course, Dipper knew it was going to be used in that way, he exhaled a shaky sigh and said, “… Is it a deal or not?”

Bill hummed thoughtfully, using one long claw to tap his _‘chin’_ —which was a brick just below his bowtie—with a giggle, the demon said, “You really don’t have a _choice_ in this matter, buuuuut, the offer you gave is interesting… and as much as I’d LIKE to DISEMBOWEL YOU AND SPLIT YOUR SOUL ACROSS THE MULTIVERSE. I won’t be going back to Gravity Falls for a LONG time if I followed through with that idea.” The demon snapped his fingers and the tree let go of Dipper, he snickered and added, “Tempting deal Pinetree, you’re basically WISHING for your own demise!” He cheerily stated, sticking out a hand wreathed in cerulean fire. “Amuse me.”

The boy steeled himself and swallowed his fear, his eyes locked onto the demon’s single eye as he took a hold of Bill’s hand, “Deal.”

In an instant, the flames engulfed Dipper’s hand and just as quickly, dissipated. Bill gestured him to turn around, which Dipper obediently did. He flinched when the demon nudged his shirt up and shuddered when a clawed finger pressed into the flesh of his lower back. The action was followed by a slight stinging sensation, that wasn’t all too unpleasant, if not just a bit uncomfortable due to the chills it sent up his spine. The demon’s hand pulled away and Dipper turned around to view his lower back.

He blanched at the sight.

There was a small pine tree, one that resembled the one on Bill’s wheel and his hat, tattooed into his skin. He couldn’t help what his mind went to the moment he saw it—… it looked like a tramp stamp. “Bill… did you just give me a tram—”

“Enough chit chat, I’ll give you the quick details about what this does and why it’s a pine tree and not my glorious visage. FIRST, I can administer an ELECTRIC SHOCK through your body whenever I want! Don’t worry it’s not going to be deadly, I just needed something to bother you or for whenever you’re infringing on my _privacy_.” Dipper’s eyes widened in worry as Bill continued, “Wait… no… either it’s electric shock or something else… I’m using human nerves to accomplish this, so I’m not quite certain what would happen if I activate it.”

“Uh...Bill?” Dipper muttered, his voice wavering.

The demon waved him off, “NO MATTER! I won’t know about the effects until we return to Gravity Falls! All I know is that it won’t kill you nor paralyze you! As for why it’s not a triangle…” He shrugged and drew the pine tree symbol into the air in some strange gold ink, “Shooting Star will immediately know what’s up if she sees a triangle CARVED into your skin and that won’t do, so I settled for your pine tree! Which is technically made of triangles! Well… and an awful rectangle but we can ignore that.” Without giving the boy a chance to reply to what he said, he waved him farewell. “Seeya on the flip side! We actually I won’t but, YOU will be seeing me!”

The demon snapped his fingers and the world was sucked into a black abyss.

✦✦✦

Dipper awoke with a jolt, he looked around bleary eyed and sweating, he looked around his surroundings. It was a bedroom, the walls were painted with a dull orange hue, the place smelt like a candy store, and several blankets were spilled onto the floor. Paper and books were strewn all over the floor and a pile, of what looked like journals were stacked on a wooden table. His hands automatically went to his neck, besides a bandage wrapped around his neck, Dipper felt a cold chain and slid his hand along it. _Not just a dream..._ he told himself. The boy then started looking around for the demon, to find that he was resting on his lap, eye closed and limbs limp. The boy picked him up and eyed the room…

Wait no, where was he? Bill woke him up but he woke him up too late! His hands latched onto the necklace as he screamed, “Mabel!”

Her scream sounded outside immediately, the sound startled him out of the bed and had him running to the door which he threw open.

|Dipper! Dipper!” screamed his twin, the sound of her voice simultaneously relieved him and worried him. Dow the stairs he ran, almost tripping and falling the entire way down and when his feet touched the wooden floor he darted around the corner, following the source of his sister’s startled and panicked cries.

“Mabel!” He screamed, ready to kick the ass of the person who kidnapped him until… he saw a familiar Asian girl in a familiar blue parka, staring at his sister who was, as promised, inside of a pink sphere.

“Calm down, Mabel,” Ling approached the pink sphere with their hands out.

Dipper stepped forwards, shouting, “Don’t touch it!” The tenth grader slowly backed away with their head slightly cocked to the side, not in confusion but in expectant observation. Dipper slowly tucked the pendant into his shirt and let go of it, once it was out of sight. With the demon, he tucked him into his flannel’s chest pocket.

Once realizing that she was safe, Dipper relaxed and headed over to his sibling who sobbed as the sphere containing her popped and dropped her onto the floor.

“What was that!?” Mabel exclaimed, eyes brimming with startled tears.

The elder teen glanced between the twins, they smiled at the boy, before crossing their arms over their chest, “Dipper seems to know some magic. It must have been something to protect you.”

Mabel stared at her brother before getting up and dashing towards him, engulfing him into a tight hug. While he rubbed circles into the back of his shaken sister, Dipper glanced around the apartment, it seemed to be Ling’s home or something and if he recalled correctly, the last time they were awake they were certainly not in the city where her apartment is located and was at a _house_ , where he almost died and Mabel was almost kidnapped… or eaten! Or—or… something _far_ worse. His eyes teared up as he held onto his twin thanking whatever gods there were that they spared her. He wouldn’t know what to do if she were to leave him.

Their friend, Ling, stood there watching the two before moving to the active stove and turning the fire down. “I’m making some dinner for you guys. I’m sure you have questions Dipper, what’s up?”

“What happened?! A Dea—Person tried to take Mabel away while she was unconscious and I almost died!” The pre-teen hissed over the shoulder of his sister. “How did we get here?”

“Whoa man, you are _angry_.” Of course, he was! Why wouldn’t he be? His sister could have died and Bill was an ass for not waking him sooner and then there was Ling… who stood there nonchalantly flipping _omelets_. “Well, I found you and Mabel outside and beat the _shit_ out of the guy who hurt you and then I told everyone that I was taking you guys home because Mabel wasn’t feeling well.” She shrugged and added, “So here you are now.”

“That man—” Dipper stopped as Mabel slipped out of his hug.

“Can we not fight, I’m tired and I’m just… Dipper I want to sit down.” The boy fretted over his sister, quickly checking her with his eyes to see if she was hurt anywhere. Finding no injuries, he nodded his head.

As they left the kitchen, Ling just simply said, “I’ll bring your meal out for you.” Completely disregarding the brunet’s concerns and the sentence he couldn’t complete.

The two sat down together on the couch in complete silence. Dipper didn’t know if it was because his sister didn’t want to talk or because she was thinking about something that kept her from talking. Was it the sphere he created? Or was it because of something else? Had the stranger done something traumatizing to her? Dipper worried his lip, gnawing at the skin before asking, “Mabel? Are you okay?”

Mabel sniffed and leaned her head against his shoulder, flopping against him as she stared off into the distance. “You…” she began quietly, “You had really bad bruises around your neck when I woke up, I was scared that you had died.”

_And I was scared you were dead._ Dipper thought as he rested his head against her, feeling rather at peace with his twin’s presence. A few tears threatened to leak out of his eyes as he thought about such a possibility. Remembering the thousands of Mabels and their lifeless eyes staring back at him with a dead expression or ones contorted into fear… sadness… _anger_. Those dreams scared him beyond belief and he was glad they were _only_ dreams and not a reality. He grabbed her hand and gave it a light reassuring squeeze as he closed his eyes and tried to forget the images that popped up into his mind A new one now being Mabel being dragged away by a hideous red-eyed monster.

“Man, you guys make me wish I had siblings.” Ling said as she dropped off their odd breakfast dinner. The two sat up and took their forks.

Dipper, before eating met the gaze of the Chinese girl and with a remorseful smile said, “Hey, sorry about snapping at you earlier.” He truly was, for someone who saved the both of them, he shouldn’t have been so rude to her. He had a thousand thanks to give for rescuing Mabel, and now he owed her something for also saving him.

Ling smiled her usual smile, seemingly unfazed by his yelling earlier as she cooed, “Aww shucks, you’re making me blush Dipper, that apology was _precious_.”

“I really mean it!” the boy squeaked as he stabbed the omelet, a pout on his features.

“I get it Dip, you were stressed out, I know how much you care about Mabel and because of that, I don’t blame you for yelling.” Said, Ling, as she forked her food and began eating.

It was nice to know he didn’t have to explain himself to someone, that it was serene to not have to deal with the person he offended acting like he was the scum of the Earth, even if he sure felt like one for his previous behavior.

Once everyone settled down, Ling turned on the television, the teen shoved food into her mouth with her eyes glued to the screen, an unreadable expression as she flipped through the channels. She ate like Grunkle Stan when he was focused on old romance shows, what was the one that caught his attention recently? The Duchess Approves? Dipper chuckled to himself as he began digging into the omelet, the egg was extremely fluffy, the center was stuffed with cheese, asparagus, and bacon. He blinked and looked up at the teen who was still flipping through channels, “I never knew you were good at cooking.”

Ling raised a brow, she let out a soft laugh at his comment, “Dip, if you think cooking an omelet, equates to being a good cook, then you have much to learn.” Their eyes returned to the screen, “I took cooking up as a hobby. I like food, so I had to learn how to make it.”

“It would be better with some sparkles in my opinion.” Mabel mused, stabbing her fork into the omelet. Dipper was about to comment on his sister’s unhealthy obsession with glitter, but abruptly stopped when he heard what was happening on the news.

“Horror struck in an alley nearby the border of Oakland and Piedmont,” Dipper turned around to see that the television was playing a news channel, a woman in a beige suit, holding a microphone was sitting by a screen showing a live feed of police officers and cars. “Authorities were alerted by a few residents, approximately around 5 pm, that they had briefly heard screaming in the neighborhood. A few curious passersby, went to locate the source of the screams, only to find bloody viscera strewn all over the pavement and walls that once belonged to what seemed to be the body of a naked man. Currently, the identity of the victim and the killer are in question but seeing as there were no witnesses, the police are at a loss. Due to the graphic images of the body, our field team has been told not to veer too close to the headless man.”

Mabel stood up with the plate in hand and asked, “I’m going to the balcony, sorry.” His sister seemed weak to the idea of gore, or at least what they were hearing.

Dipper watched the camera turn to a police officer who looked quite tired from whatever it was that hid behind the bloodied alleyway. The man on screen cleared his throat and began explaining the details of the body. “Despite the state of the body, the damages done to it weren’t due to a gun or an explosive. We found no signs of gunpowder within the area. However, there were reports of multiple loud bangs, reminiscent of a gun going off before the screaming stopped. Unfortunately, we can’t say it was a gun either, out team found no bullet shrapnels within the proximity.”

The camera man didn’t need to zoom in for the viewer to catch sight of a few splatters of blood and pink gooey chunks just around the corner. After some scrutiny, Dipper realized what they were, those were the victim’s _brains._ The brunet lost his appetite due to the realization, while… in the corner of Dipper’s vision, he noticed Ling resume eating despite what the police officer was saying.

“The skull is indented in a way that suggests… uh, _blunt_ force. And from what our investigators have deduced, was that he was tortured for a prolonged amount of time before finally being dealt the killing blow to the head… he died immediately after that.” The officer inhaled a shaky breath before continuing, “Intention to kill and malice towards the victims are clear. Hopefully, the soul will rest easy—”

Ling abruptly turned off the television, Dipper turned to his senior with a confused look. She shrugged and stuffed another piece of her meal into her mouth. “We don’t see a lot of violent crimes over here, I was interested. Now, you can either eat or leave it, I’ll finish it later if you don’t want it.” The Asian said, pointing at his plate. “I’ll go get you your jar, and after you finish, I’m taking you home.”

He didn’t argue with that; however, he couldn’t eat anymore, something didn’t feel right about that newscast, the incident happened right after he had gone to search for Mabel, and while the case was half way across the city, it was still concerning, considering how they described the victim’s death. Dipper threaded his fingers as he waited for Ling to come back with Bill’s jar. He had a few unanswered questions that he wasn’t a fan of, not because he didn’t like the implications of them or anything along those lines, _no_ he didn’t like the fact they were unanswered. Not knowing has always made him nervous.

Ling reappeared with his jar in hand, as promised, and upon seeing it, the brunet practically jumped out of his seat to take it back. “Whoa, take it easy! I’m not taking it anywhere,” she said as she pushed the jar into Dipper’s chest, the glass pressed against his skin, the contact soothing his nerves. “Here.”

“Thanks...” He said, eagerly wrapping his arms around it and pulling it away from their grasp. He sat back down on the couch and pulled out Bill, the demon was still asleep, his eye closed and limbs dangling. Dipper unscrewed the jar lid and carefully placed the demon back inside. He sat there, staring at the demon in the jar, while Bill didn’t wake him up at the right time he did keep his promise—to a degree—and that made up for the lack daisy attitude of the demon. Maybe, Bill knew that he wasn’t truly in danger?

The sound of Mabel chatting with Ling in the distance seemed duller as time passed.

“Are you coming?” Mabel’s voice snapped him out of his daze and he scrambled to a standing position. The boy nodded and bounded to their side.

Ling hummed, “Hurry up Dipper, your sister seems eager to go home, do as she says.” The elder teen pulled on a pair of brown boots, covered in strange muddy red stains which Dipper shrugged off as dirt; the city streets have been muddy as of late. Mabel pulled on her flats and quickly opened the door. After everyone was out and Ling had locked the door to her apartment and led the group down the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adding some more Tags for the future chapters. Thank you guys for reading!


	5. A Visit to Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An edit was made on Dipper's name. At least I can make hokes about mason jars now.

The school year passed rather peacefully, Mabel had been all the more pleased now that Dipper wasn’t throwing up onto their floor every morning or night. Thanks to Bill, who had been more than compliant with eating his horrible nightmares Dipper had been able to sleep on a scheduled basis, and since he was no longer bombarded with the constant dreams depicting horrid and gruesome deaths of those he knew or his own sibling, those images have started to fade. Several months passed and now, the bags under his eyes have faded and even his migraines have receded.

And like Dipper’s nightmares, the incident with the red-eyed demon also faded from memory. Filing into the boy’s “one time only” folder.

Classes were the same

Classes were the same and seasons passed by unnoticed to Dipper, who was growing more invested in books than in education. Even beginning to write a few short stories in his free time, of course, it was nothing more than a hobby, he didn’t know where he was headed with his work, only that it was enjoyable. Mabel, on the other hand, had become increasingly interested in fine arts and cooking, spending most of her days studying up on how to bake cookies or cakes. She had also _finally_ stopped using edible glitter in anything other than icing and frosting when Dipper praised her for; though that was probably because he was more than happy to finally stop eating the grainy glitter waffles she prepares.

Before the twins knew it, Christmas came rolling in, which was spent drinking indoors while it rained watching movie marathons or popular Television series. Then came New Years, where they sat with Mabel’s friends and spent the evening playing video games or watching each other play video games like the Witcher series or playing Dungeons, Dungeons, and more Dungeons with Ling. Then Spring Break they spent the holiday inside mostly watching the television and making food. Course, during the holidays, the twin always made sure to call their friends back in Gravity Falls, some people even streamed movies and TV shows with them through websites like Rabb.it and sent gifts over to them during Christmas. It was nice seeing Soos and Melody together at the shack, they regularly sent photos of themselves with Pacifica and Wendy around the house and or out at the lakeside.

Dipper hadn’t had an interaction with Bill since the _incident_ as he likes to call it. The demon has done nothing but lie in his jar surrounded by a fake garden Dipper made for his art project. Yes, he was so bored that he took the jar and made it into a terrarium full of fake grassy items he glued together to make sure they don’t fly off or fall when he shook the jar.

Summer hit them like a truck, their parents just slammed open their door, startling both kids out of their beds as they happily announced their summer plans. Which was, as the two suspected, going over to visit Grandpa Shermy in Florida.

Grandpa Shermy was a simple man. He lived in a comfortable home with his wife, in a comfortable residential town, surrounding a lake. He was a kind man who didn’t ask for much, only asking for the twins to walk by the lake with him. Dipper always liked the lake.

The two currently stood at the lakeside, both with their feet bare and partially in the cold water, the young boy watched the waves roll over his skin, soothing and calm, as well as cold on his sun-warmed skin. In his arms was the jar containing Bill and beside him stood the old man with eyes glued to the scenery before him, something in his Grandfather’s eye was distant, like as if the man himself wasn’t presently with Dipper. “Grandpa Shermy?” the boy called out for him.

Dipper’s voice seemed to have snapped him out of his daze and he looked down at the boy who was staring at him. “Yes, Mason—uh… Dipper. Sorry, I used to call you Mason all the time.”

The usage of his real name caught him off guard, “Oh...I—I don’t mind.”

His grandfather scoffed, not in a mocking way, but more so amused, “Don’t lie through clenched teeth, I can tell you’re bothered.” He stated, stepping away from the water and settling down onto the lake sand, he let out a tired grunt, and patted the ground beside him, Dipper moved closer and sat down, his grandfather turned his full attention on the boy, and with a warm smile, asked, “Anyways, what was it you wanted to ask?”

“Uh...Grunkle Stan and Ford...were you close to them?”

Shermy paused for a moment, running a tongue along his dry lips before answering, “I never got to know Stanley… around the time I was born, he was kicked out of the house,” he picked up a rock and chucked it into the water, as he continued, “Ford and I… weren’t that close either. He was always busy with some—... _fancy_ new contraption and because he couldn’t take his head out of his research, I basically grew up alone.” He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts.

“You know, I _envy_ you twins. You all had a chance to… _grow up_ together. Now, what happened with Stanley and Stanford back then, it was _truly_ unfortunate, they would have been a good team. As I grew up, Stanford had become my idol, he was exceptionally brilliant and he would try to teach me his ways, but alas I was only a youngin, I didn’t understand a word he said… the worst part was that—I couldn’t do anything to help Stanford with his studies, he carried _a lot_ on his shoulders. Always afraid of either disappointing mum, or himself! If you were to rate his pride, the meter would shoot through the _roof_.” Dipper chuckled, that bit about Ford was true. However, he didn’t say anything and allowed the old man to continue. Shermy patted his back. “But that is all in the past. I’d love to meet Stanley one of these days, I’ve only been in contact with him through the phone. Glad he and Stanford made up, though.”

“I’m glad too, Stanley deserved a break.” Dipper replied, tapping his fingers along the metal lid of the jar.

Grandpa Shermy smiled solemnly, “Dipper?” He looked up at the old man who was staring out at the lake, “Time changes a lot of things. Many relationships are made and then they fall apart, but _family_ bonds… despite what other’s say, it’s easier for a family to crumble and when it does it’ll affect you for a long time, and the reason is because it’s harder to forgive someone who’s family, than someone who’s a friend.” He sighed and looked down at the sand, running a hand through it. “What I’m trying to say is… look out for your sister. I’d hate to see another pair of twins fall apart.”

 _Another pair of twins falls apart_ …

Dipper only smiled in response. Growing up must have been rough for Grandpa Shermy who couldn’t connect with his elder brothers, living alone without a sibling despite having two. Dipper couldn’t help but pity the old man, a sibling, while they can be a hassle to deal with—Dipper can’t count how many times Mabel and he argued about her trying to put makeup on him while he was sleeping or allowing her friends to harass and dress him up like a girl—they were a blessing, in a sense. Having a sibling meant you could have someone to fall back on. Though, like he said, it’s harder to forgive the betrayal of a family member than one of a friend.

The two sat there staring at the view, every so often snapping out of their daze as the kids ran by chattering and laughing, only to be sucked right into the midday view before them.

Shermy was the first to break the silence, “So what’s with the jar Dipper?”

The boy blinked out of their daze and stared up at the old man, he tried to find words only to mutter a soft, “Wha?”

The old man laughed and slapped him on the back, “Oh, don’t give me that! You’ve been carrying that thing around as if it were your lifeline!” He exclaimed with a cheerful lilt to his voice.

Dipper chuckled and rested his gaze on Bill, “It’s uh…” Project? Souvenir? _A strange demon from another dimension that tried to kill me but we trapped it in a jar_? All of the possible responses seemed ridiculous in his opinion. The boy settled with, “A friend. I’m keeping him safe.”

“Oh, I see… you know, I had a friend when I was your age too. It was a stuffed rabbit named Jerry,” of course his grandfather thought Bill was an imaginary friend. “He and I were thick as thieves! Carried the bugger with me everywhere! He’s now retired and sitting on my bookcase.” Shermy leaned closer and tapped the jar, “mind introducing me?”

“His name is Bill Cipher.” Dipper bluntly put it.

Shermy, who was busy staring at passing geese blinked back to reality, “… Lucifer?” He asked warily.

“Bill. Cipher.” Dipper repeated punctuating the demon’s name. Though Bill could be Lucifer for all he knows, the demon, back when Dipper first met him was rather passive aggressive and took his anger out on small animals when Dipper provoked him… the boy had seen his fair share of dead squirrels and rabbits for one lifetime. His grandfather slowly nodded, his mouth formed into an ‘o’.

“So, what is Bill Cipher?” he asked with a smile on his face.

The boy scoffed, rolling his eyes. Yes, indeed _what_ is this horrible dream demon who had a knack for hurting living things because he couldn’t hurt Dipper until he has expired of use. “He’s an arrogant dream demon who’s far too sure of himself.”

Grandpa Shermy’s brows raised in surprise, “… I see. A bit bitter towards your friend, huh?”

 _You don’t even know._ “You can say that.”

“So why a jar?”

Dipper picked up a pebble and rubbed the smooth surface, deciding to answer his grandpa openly. After all, Shermy would be safe from Bill’s influence when they return to Gravity Falls, “Glass is easier for me to keep an eye on him.”

The old man gave the demon a sympathetic look, “It sure looks… cagey.”

The boy glanced at him, then at the lid of the jar, “… I know, it’s supposed to be cagey.” He shook his head and let out a small chuckle, “You’re asking me this because walking around with a jar, looks weird, right?”

His grandfather laughed at his comment, joyfully exclaiming, “I mean… your friend Bill is quite small! Why use a _jar_ of all things?!”

 _The jar is what I need to carry around with me._ A small smirk found its way onto his face, “Because Bill Cipher is an unpredictable jerk who needs to be kept in check. He is literally living in a house made of glass walls, if he does something, I’ll know. Besides, he’ll complain if his container is too small.”

He’ll complain about anything if he’s given the chance. Bill didn’t do what girls do, which was silently hate each other—it’s also what he does with Robbie but Dipper wasn’t going to admit that.

Shermy lightly nudged him in the side with his elbow as he mused, “… It’s a good thing we got officer Dipper Pines on the case.” Officer Dipper Pines, oddly, he like that title, a small blush found its way onto his face as a smile formed on his face. There was always something appealing about law enforcement, the ability to help other people and save lives. He knew that the cops in Gravity Falls weren’t the brightest bulbs in the toolshed but they did try to do their jobs, a part of him wondered if he could work for the department in an internship. Another part of him said to stay away from law enforcement and stick with studying the obscure, following the footsteps that Grunkle Ford left for him in Gravity Falls. Dipper’s smile faltered as he thought about the old man and how far away he was from family. While he was glad he and Stan were finally traveling the world together, they were drifting further and further away from the twins and the family they left behind in Florida.

Dipper yawned and blinked away the tears that clung to his eyelashes. He was getting… tired for some odd reason, he felt a wave of nausea hit him that faded into a mild dizzy ache.

He yawned again.

“Are you tired?” The old man softly smiled at him. Dipper shook his head, confusion hitting as quick as sleep was sinking into the boy’s system.

“I—… I slept peacefully last night.” He replied truthfully. Dipper honestly did, but whatever was affecting him now, was not a normal bout of tire. “Grandpa Shermy? C-could you call someone? I’m going to—”

✦✦✦

Laughter was the first thing Dipper could make out. A high pitched, a jovial cackle that usually would have left him shuddering in unease… if it weren’t for how many times he’s heard it. Now it only left mild irritation in his system. He sat up and blearily blinked _‘awake’_.

“THIRD TIME’S A CHARM!” The demon exclaimed. Before the boy could register where he was in the world, blinding yellow suddenly appeared in his vision. “HEYA PINETREE.”

Dipper let out a small groan of protest as he rubbed his eyes, “What do you want, Bill? Why am I here? How did you drag me into my mind?” He asked in a blank tone.

The demon’s eye blacked out and flickered to life almost like a screen. Bill’s eye showed a number one that switched through to three as he answered the boy. “Question one: I want nothing! Question two: you’re here because you brought yourself here! Question three: you called my name!” Bill’s eye flashed back to normal, he looked off to the side, “To be precise, you called my name three times. Why? Not sure, rules maybe—stupid CONVOLUTED AND MEANINGLESS rules. But at least it was THREE times, like my three sides and not some dumb number… like a _four_ or something _gross_ like that.”

Dipper rubbed the bridge of his nose, “So I’m just _here_. For no reason.”

“BASICALLY! So why not take advantage of this…” Bill moved closer, his eye lidded in an _alarmingly_ suggestive way, as he said, “one on one?”

The boy ignored the statement and swatted the demon away from him. “Piss off.”

“I don’t have a bladder!” The demon announced joyfully.

Dipper couldn’t bite back the bitter smile that crossed his face. He slowly stood up, Bill being complacent enough to move out of his way. This time the scenery was flickering, like a glitched-out video game. Everything seemed to be affected excluding Bill and him, and with a slight sense of doubt, Dipper slowly shuffled his way closer to a pine, placing a hand on the shifting bark. As soon as his finger brushed its surface, a wave of calm, passed over the glitched scenery, just before certain things melted and others transformed. Pine trees and oaks became large weeping willows, firs became simple Maples and a hole, several feet away, opened, swallowing the dirt as it was being filled with clear water.

Bill beside him clapped excitedly, “Oh! Well isn’t this a PLEASANT surprise! It sure looks beautiful out there!”

“You like it?” Dipper stared at the changed scenery, not one bit surprised at his ability to change his surroundings, after all, this was his mind. Dipper glanced up at the demon who was giving him a questioning look as the boy claimed, “I thought you would like to see the lake Grandpa Shermy took me to today.”

Of course, it wasn’t _exactly_ like the lake, it lacked everything that was lovely about it. The color of willows and birch, the smell of the grass about the land and the gentle breeze that brushed by. It lacked all that and even more, the sounds of life. Bill floated in place, his eye narrowed in scrutiny as he scanned over the new land, after a minute he floated over to a maple tree, plucking a leaf and examining it with mild curiosity, “Gravity Falls only ever had Pine trees.”

The boy stared at the demon with a judging gaze, he slowly started, “Bill… have you… never seen a Maple tree before?”

That comment resulted in the demon sending him a very offended look. “OF COURSE, I’VE _SEEN_ THEM!” He pointed to his eye, which made Dipper’s mouth form a small ‘o’, _all seeing eye, how could I forget?_ The demon huffed in indignation and let go of the leaf watching it fall. Once it softly landed on the ground Bill clapped his hands together. “It was nice of you to visit me Pinetree! Of your own volition, as well! I didn’t think you liked me THAT much,” he blinked in a way that suggested he was winking, “But I’m going to cut this visit short! See me later! Watch the sides when you take me out!” With that, the demon snapped his fingers.

✦✦✦

Time seemed to move faster than normal when Dipper was with Grandpa Shermy, the man was very average, he was not insanely intelligent like Grunkle Ford nor buff and tough like Grunkle Stan. He was like the perfect mix of the two, the boy found himself gravitating to the old man. Spending most of his summer days out with the old man on an adventure by the lake or at some attraction in Florida. Mabel, on the other hand, became close with their grandmother, a very kind old woman who put everyone else’s health above her own. It was rather worrisome but, with Mabel around, she always had an extra helping hand. His sister—who at first hated this place, grew to slowly like it, making a few friends this summer, who he knew she was going to be devastated leaving behind. The two still, however, kept in touch with the people of Gravity Falls, Mabel mostly, but Dipper attempted as well. Usually dropping in on conversations she had with the others over skype.

All in all, everything was peaceful, there was nothing concerning about the Floridian citizens unlike what the news liked to broadcast— _thank god_ —and Mabel seemed nonetheless happy, and her being happy was all Dipper needed to be happy as well.

Though it seemed that wasn’t allowed to stay for long, Dipper’s paranoia seemed to kick into high gear nearing the end of their trip…

The second _incident_ was on their fourteenth birthday, they were all out at a restaurant, Mabel’s new friends joined in on the celebration and for the first time in years, both of their parents as well. The two both had bags under their eyes because the two still worked over the holidays. Yes, this trip was also a business trip for their mother who had been devastated due to the lack of sleep.

“Fourteen and I’m _still_ taller than you Dipper.” Mabel mused as she shuffled her way closer to her twin.

“That doesn’t matter Mabel!” Dipper exclaimed, his pride dropping a little.

His sister outright guffawed at his statement, “Oh but it does!” She squeezed his arm, his flesh put up no resistance, “You should eat more… and sleep more.”

Dipper scoffed, “Eating and sleeping take up time—time I could spend doing something more productive.”

“But your lifestyle is stunting your growth! Look at you! So, _skinny_. I’m actually pretty jealous! You have more feminine hips than me!”

“Stop that.” Dipper gave her a dark glare at that comment.

His sister completely disregarded his hateful expression, “It’s a compliment!”

“I know it is! But it’s not a good thing! I’m a guy!”

“Guys can have feminine hips!”

“Kids, kids. Come on, we can discuss Dipper’s unfortunate appearance once your party’s over.” Grandpa Shermy was downright cruel to say that in front of everyone, the group chuckled as the cake came along. Dipper bit down on any remarks and took a deep breath to calm himself. _It was only a joke_. Still didn’t mean his pride didn’t just… plummet to the earth.

One of Mabel's friends clapped her hands as they lit the candles, being the first to start the round of the song “happy birthday.” Everyone—including the staff joyously followed along. Once it was done, Dipper found his mood lighter, he gave his sister a smile. “Happy birthday Mabel.”

“Happy birthday my awesome bro-bro.” The two blew out their candles together.  

“Welcome to the years of awkwardness and puberty, kids!” Shermy chuckled as he began removing the candles. Their mother was the one to cut the cake and the twin’s father hauled the gifts onto the restaurant table.

From Mabel’s five friends, Dipper received a few mystery novels and figurines of monsters. While his sister was bombarded with glittery nail polish, shiny beads, and balls of yarn. Their mother and father were next, they both wore a smile on their lips, however, it is clear that there is uncertainty in their eyes—as if they were scared their own children wouldn’t like their gifts. “We heard you got into writing. So…” Dipper gave his father a small smile as he started unwrapping his gift, “Your mother and I thought it was a good time to give you a laptop of your own.” His eyes shone as he laid eyes on the box.

“Thank you so much!” Dipper quickly unwrapped the rest of it as Mabel pursed her lips, leaning over to take a look at the laptop. She gave him a knowing grin, _she knew!_ And she had the _gall_ to hide the fact his gift was a laptop. He gave her look, to which she laughed off and began to opening her gift.

“A little something that took me ages to put together.” Their mother said as the female twin pulled out quite a large wooden case. “Open it.”

Mabel did as she was told and was met with a plethora of watercolor paints, brushes, a varying degree of pens and pencils, as well as a small wooden case containing pencils which Dipper assumed were also for water coloring. The girl just stared at the gift in shock, “Christ mom, how much did this cost you?” The woman chuckled at her comment, Mabel just gave her a shocked—but happy look, “These aren’t handy downs. Holy granoly these are Faber castell and… I can’t even pronounce that one, it’s French, isn’t it?”

“German actually,” Grandpa Shermy corrected, his gaze shifted from the twins to their mother, bemused, he asked, “Pretty pricey stuff, Sherry. Who did you kill for these?”

“I have my connections, had to gather these from a multitude of people.” She moved over to Mabel’s side to plant a kiss on her daughter’s head but was instead dragged down into a hug. “Good luck with your art honey, I saw the picture of wax Stan… maybe I should have bought you some marble instead, Michelangelo.”

“Oh, hush mom.” Mabel giggled and released her to fawn over the wooden box of art supplies.

“Now it’s the old folk’s turn,” Shermy dug out two poorly wrapped gifts and placed them on the table, “I… never was good at wrapping things, should have made Jane wrap them for me.” Their grandma chuckled and pushed the gifts closer to them, Dipper and Mabel happily took the gift. While Mabel tore into the wrappings, Dipper took his time, making sure not to rip the paper. It was a smartphone. “It was about time you kids had one, your parents got you sim cards for them as well.”

“Thank you, Grandpa, Shermy.” Dipper smiled at the old man.

“No problem, Dipper.” He rubbed his eyes trying to discreetly wipe away forming tears. Once done he looked at everyone and cheerily said, “Let’s eat your cake already.”

It was sweet, a fresh fruit cake, with layers of cut strawberries and peaches, some candied cherries laid between three layers of cake and sat in smooth low-fat icing. Dipper had one slice of the cake and was rather content after having his slice, Mabel on the other-hand had two slices, and was rather messy with her food, sometimes lifting a piece and attempting to dab Dipper’s face with the frosting. In his dreams, Dipper could remember many birthdays where she would try the exact same thing and with each one, she was successful. Though, with the exception of this birthday and the ones previous in the waking world. He ducked and dodged out of her grasp like Muhammed Ali, the boy had plenty of practice and just like every other birthday where she attempted to do this he avoided a frosting plastered face.

This time, it was Mabel’s turn, so when she was having her fun, giggling, Dipper scooped a finger of the icing and poked her in the face with it. An act of icing war. Everyone began doing the exact same and by the end of the party, Dipper remained victorious with only one icing prod on his cheek while all the other participants—even Grandpa Shermy—had a face of smeared frosting.

For a time, they were happy.

Everything ended peacefully and the mess was cleaned up and the remaining slices were consumed. While the chatter died down with Mabel’s friends leaving, the twins talked about their activities once school starts back up. Clubs they wanted to join and hobbies they may look into. Dipper was deadest on continuing his writing and going to his club with Ling and Mabel, while his sister was thinking of taking up judo.

They didn’t know at the time that their discussions were of a future that didn’t and couldn’t exist for them.

It was dark out when they left the restaurant, Mabel’s friends had all left and now the Pines family was heading to the parking lot. It was dark out with only the streetlights shining in the dark, the moon was hidden under a thick layer of rain clouds that scattered a light downfall. The water scattered across the pavement, hitting the asphalt and turning it black.

Sudden realizations crossed Mabel’s face as she grabbed Dipper’s arm and alerted him, “Oh no! Dipper! I forgot something!” she claimed with a blank expression. Her brother eyed her posture and her odd look. Dipper was sure they had gathered everything before they left the restaurant.

Tightening his hold on his backpack strap he took a step closer to Mabel, “What did you leave behind?”

It took her a moment before she responded, “I’ll go get it.”

“I’ll come with you.”

The girl’s voice was automatically, “No, that’s fine. I’ll be fine alone, it’s something small.” Something was off. Dipper frowned as she left his side. He glanced at his mother and father who was sharing an equally as confused look, but they paid no mind to it. Falling for her farce, unlike Dipper. With a quick word to his parents, the boy followed behind her and found that despite how blatantly he was following her, she didn’t seem to notice him, like her attention was focused on one thing only.

 _Something is very wrong_.

Mabel made a ninety-degree turn from the restaurant door and dashed towards an alleyway, Dipper, who had been chasing monsters for a very long time, immediately reacted and ran in pursuit. Turning into the alley, he saw Mabel standing there in a daze as some creep urged her to come closer. Dipper immediately placed his hand on the triangular pendant and squeezed it, pleading for it to work like it once did and thankfully, the barrier appeared and lifted Mabel to safety while Dipper, became the main target of the _thing_ that had hypnotized his sister. Despite the dim lighting, he could make out the man’s features, a very lanky man with pale skin, his hair was brushed to the side, almost covering up a set of bright crimson that shimmered and reflected even the dimmest of light. A wide smile formed on her attacker’s face, a set of sharp incisors found their way to the surface as Dipper stared at the man who he recognized as one of the employees of the establishment they _just_ left. One that had been serving their table. A dirty blonde with a snaggle tooth who had previously worn brown eyes, not red.

Dipper furrowed his brow and took a step forwards. “What do you think you’re doing?” asked Dipper as he took another step forwards with an arm extended out, slowly reaching for Mabel’s unconscious figure. “Tell me what you wanted to do with my sister.”

“That’s... _your_ sister?” The restaurant employee scoffed and started to move towards him, not even a step of hesitation as he walked past the pink bubble. His posture radiated of smug indifference and self-confidence, his attitude was completely different to the previous red-eyed man who attacked them, the one who acted more like a beast than a human. “You two are _completely_ different, how can something like _you_ be tied with _her_?” His approach did not deter the boy, instead, Dipper started moving faster. He needed to grab hold of Mabel and get out of here.

Just as he was about to reach her… his body stopped moving.

Frozen, that was that he would describe the experience, he could not control his body and whenever he attempted to move, the part of his body he attempted to control, would only twitch. Panic settled when he felt his grip on the pendant loosen as a cloud started to fog his mind.

Long bony fingers wrapped around his neck and gave it a light and playful squeeze like a cruel child would do to a hamster, curious to their reaction, and react Dipper did. Not intentionally of course, no, his pulse quickened as the adrenaline started to kick into high gear and his breathing caught his throat as his fight or flight instincts started mess with his reasoning. The man looming over him felt his fear and he reveled in the sensation, a grin split his face as he wrapped another hand around Dipper’s neck and slowly—almost teasingly—began to squeeze his neck.

“Wait!” the boy cried out, the employee’s brows raised a little waiting for him to continue, “The barrier… it’s made so that only I can touch it, if you kill me, you won’t ever be able to get her.”

The man stared at him, long and cold before bursting out in laughter. “You think that little bubble is going to stop me?” He smiled, leaning down to level with Dipper, he planted a kiss on the boy’s cheek that sent very uncomfortable chills down his spine, that disgust turned into mind-numbing nausea as he nuzzled Dipper’s face, hot breath invading his ear and crawling against his skin with each ragged and shaky exhale.

“I’m going to eat your sister… I’m going to _cut_ her up and eat her,” he backed away and said in a love-struck tone, “you can watch.” To say the very least, Dipper was scared shitless of the man, and as he released his neck, Dipper couldn’t hold in the breath of relief that left his lips.

Through the blurry haze, he mouthed the words _“help”_ in a futile effort before saying, “I really, _really_ advise against touching it.”

“Or else what?” He looked at the bubble then back at the boy, a condescending smile on his face, “I’ll break it if I can’t reach into it.”

 _Does he not know who’s magic it is? Or is he an idiot?_ Dipper put all of his remaining strength into holding the pendant, allowing his legs to give away, he fell to the wet ground like a ragdoll. This had better work or else in his next life, that demon—that _fucking_ triangle is going to die. Dipper is going to beat his bricks until they crack or dent—he will at least _try_.

Maybe, Bill wasn’t as strong as he initially thought, maybe the demon had lied about his power, it wasn’t unimaginable, considering how proud Bill was of himself. Dipper watched in silence as the man planted a hand on the bubble, they scoffed, “Some _amazing_ magic you have there, bo—” it happened way too fast for Dipper’s liking, there was a small spark from where his flesh was in contact with the pink barrier it sparked twice before the man was pushed back in a flash of light accompanied by a very loud crack—a sound akin to the crack of a whip. Dipper watched with a shocked expression as the man was thrown back against the wall, violently slamming into the bricks with an audible _crunch_. The cloud lifted from Dipper’s mind freeing him of whatever control the demon tried to put him under and allowing him to run to Mabel’s side. His gaze briefly turned to the employee’s spasming body and rolled back eyes, to study how effective the blast of electricity was before turning his attention to the girl in the pink bubble.

Dipper reached into it with no fear of the barrier as it wouldn’t and didn’t hurt him, he grabbed hold of his sister and pulled her out of the bubble, popping the barrier in the process. His twin fell into his arms, limp; her body heavy from sleep. The brunet’s eyes observed the man who hasn’t stopped squirming on the ground, visibly choking and foaming at the mouth.

A part of him questioned if he should get help, but the other half reminded him of the man’s threat towards his sister’s life and also the creepy way he clung to Dipper’s skin. The small voice in the back of his head told him that he should feel nothing but bitterness towards this man, and, he did. He felt nothing but _hate_ for him and so, with a mental ' _that’s what you get'_ comment, he hoisted Mabel onto his back and quickly returned to an area where other humans were around. He earned a few questioning glances and was met with a berating from his parents but he could care less, his mind was focused on other things.

Mabel could have died, he wasn’t going to lose her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been watching Hannibal, it's been rather distracting, I'm sorry. Well, at least it's the last episode so I might upload another chapter after I'm done.


	6. Red-eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're going back to Gravity Falls in a chapter. Finally, things are getting a move on.

It’s starting to get concerning, a number of times Mabel has encountered very dangerous situations.

The day they returned from Florida, Mabel almost fell down the stairs, thankfully, Dipper was there which meant the bubble was there as well. He was able to save her from a rough landing on the floor at the cost of some questions from her friends. A few weeks into school, Mabel was almost crushed by sports equipment while she was getting things from the storage room. Dipper wasn’t there to protect her and the boy lamented over that. Luckily, her friend Luce was, and she was able to push her to safety before being crushed under balls, poles, and wooden structures. Unfortunately, the girl took her place and was rushed to the hospital for a severe head injury and a few bruised ribs. After some investigation, the faculty said that the equipment was purposely knocked over—it could not have been a mere accident. Which lead to a large investigation of the students as they tried to figure out who was behind the rigged accident. They eventually gave up on the investigation, nothing turned up and Dipper had an inkling as to why that was. Three days after that incident, some man rolled up to them in a black van, asking if Mabel wanted some candy in the most cliché and creepy old man voice they could have ever mustered.

Dipper out right smacked the candy out of the man’s hands and dragged his sister away as he called the police.

It has been a week already, and today? Some random woman wearing sunglasses came up to them in the park and pointed a gun just a foot away from _Mabel’s head_ with her finger on the trigger. Dipper, who had been so paranoid regarding his sister’s safety, reacted faster. His hand which was fiddling with the triangle pendant grasped the gold necklace and the barrier formed around them. Just in time as the bullet ricochets off the bubble and into the sky. He let out a small breath as he leveled his gaze with the woman, she glared at him with those dead eyes before sauntering off, he did not miss the flash of red under those black shades. Dipper glanced around them and mentally wrote down what this one was able to do, she was able to make them seem invisible to passerby citizens as no one noticed the woman with a gun, the gunshot, nor the giant pink bubble the twins sat in.

Just as he was calming down he felt Mabel squeeze his hand—she was shaking. “Dipper… that was the fifth time this month.”

_Fifth_? He only knew of four incidents. He let go of the pendant once he noticed people’s eyes were turning to them—he, however, did not remove his hand from the metal. “Fifth?” His voice was soft, “what happened?”

“Ling was with me by the archery range, someone tried to shoot me. We couldn’t find out who.” She slid her hand away from her twin’s grasp and curled in on herself, “The _universe_ wants me dead. I’m scared. Dipper, I’m really, _really_ scared.”

The male twin felt his heart tighten as he watched his sister, he wanted to pull her into a hug and tell her not to be afraid, like she used to do for him when he woke up from a nightmare. But he knew that wasn’t true, this isn’t a dream, nothing can be alright. He kept a hand on the necklace, fiddling with it to calm his own nerves as he ran a hand along her back. His chest tightened when Mabel let out a shaky sob, and leaned against him as her body wrecked itself with weak shivers. For such a strong girl who always pretended that they were going to be alright and cheered Dipper on to turn out like this because of fear… it wasn’t fair for her.

Dipper decided he should call someone to pick them up, he wasn’t quite in the mood to try walking through the streets after that stunt. His eyes scanned the people around them as he called up Ling.

The Asian picked up almost immediately, greeting the boy with not cheerful “Hello,” but then immediately followed by a concerned, “what’s going on?”

“We’re in the park by the school, please, come quickly and pick us up.” The boy hung up after that, he trusted her to come. And as he expected, in a few minutes their friend pulled up in the street before them, Dipper coaxed a shaken Mabel up from the bench and led her to the car while his eyes darted around the area scanning his surroundings for any incoming danger. Relaxing as soon as she got into the vehicle, he slipping in after her and quickly closed the door.

On their way, back home, a semi almost hit them when they were crossing an intersection. Despite the road’s light for the horizontal line being red, the massive body just trucked on at an alarmingly fast speed. They took out the two cars in front of them. Both passengers in the smaller vehicles died instantly while the driver of the semi survived. They later learn from the radio that the driver of the semi was passed out, his body was covered in serious wounds _prior_ to the crash, while he did survive and was now being questioned, the man did not recall where he received them.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Dipper growled as he kicked off his shoes and made his way into their home. Noticing that their father’s shoes weren’t by the door. He must not have come home yet.

Ling, who had tagged along, slowly closed the door once Mabel made it in. “Tell me about it, a _gun_ in broad daylight. Who the hell—”

“It wasn’t any ordinary person, they had red eyes.” Dipper cut them off as he offered a hand to Mabel, his sister took it automatically as they moved towards the couch. Red eyes, they were all red eyes and if Dipper didn’t know any better, he assumed they were all demons. His gaze met with the elder teen, his eyes desperate, voice wavering, “I need help. _She_ needs help. Do you have anything that might…”

She helped him with his research on Bill, she’s been more than helpful, saving his sister on multiple occasions and now that she knew about the supernatural ties they had, there had to be something she could do to help them. The boy knew he was pulling at straws trying to win the lottery but, he needed assistance and unfortunately Ford’s cell has been unreachable.

Ling let out a tired sigh, rocking back on the ball of her heels, “I’m only human, Dipper.” They dug into their coat as they plopped down on the couch next to the boy, drawing in a long breath as they handed Dipper a foil wrapped chocolate, for Mabel, they gave her a similar foil wrapped candy, except the foil was magenta and pink. Ling watched the twins open the wrapper and pop the candy into their mouths with a small forming small. Dipper chewed the treat slowly, eyeing the Chinese girl who sat there soundlessly watching them with unblinking eyes and a complacent smile. What was so amusing about them eating? He felt his face heat up slightly as he stared back.

Just as he was about to ask what was her deal, Ling got up from the couch and started for the kitchen, “I’m going to cook something for you two. After dinner, you’re going to go do your homework and then head to bed,” the teen gave Dipper a long hard stare before adding on, “I’m sure everything will turn out fine. It always will in the end, one way or another.”

Dipper knew they were lying through clenched teeth… but he said nothing otherwise.

✦✦✦

Awoken by the sound of an owl, Dipper jolted upright, he scanned the monochrome surroundings, he hadn’t visited this place for three weeks. No longer was it the beautiful imitation of the lake over in Florida, it was back to the Pine forest, however, for the first time, there was color in this world. Color in the form of shimmering blue flames encased in various lanterns and jars, hanging from the trees. The light was quite stunning as the blue lit up the dark forest, Dipper’s brown eyes went to the sky hoping that there was change there as well, sadly, it was the same as usual, tall thick branches hid the dark sky from him.

“Pinetree!” Dipper was about to turn around so he could locate the source of the familiar shrill voice, only to have something thin wrap around his right arm. He looked down to see spindly arms coil around his caught arm.

His eyes eventually found the yellow being who seemed to shine brighter than usual, “Bill what is this?” Dipper returned his gaze to the blue flames decorating the canopy.

“I live here now! I thought I’d SPRUCE up this place!” The demon exclaimed, starting to tug on his arm. Ignoring the pun, Dipper followed along as the demon dragged him through the forest path, his eyes still staring at the lights hanging above, he wondered what it would have looked like if this was actually in Gravity Falls. Bill bobbed up and down in the air as he dragged Dipper along, rather pleased with his own creations as they came across a clearing, one that was strikingly familiar to the boy, however, he couldn’t pinpoint where he’d seen it before? Maybe it was a dream from a long time ago…

The triangle quickly unwound from him and moved to a small mound in which he lowered himself onto, nestling into the tall grass. Bill’s eye curved, “So what brings you here, Pinetree? You must have missed me~”

Right, the reason why he was her. Dipper swallowed and stepped further into the clearing, “Bill, how much do you know about Mabel’s… possible future?”

The demon’s cheerfulness seemed to vanish at that question, his eye dropped from cheery to serious as he crossed his arms. “Why do you want to know?” he demanded dully, “What GOOD is there for you to know?”

The boy fiddled with the triangular pendant around his neck, “I need to protect her.”

“You mean you WANT to protect her, not _need_.” Bill corrected, vexation clear in his voice. The demon stared at the boy for a good minute before finally giving in. “Fine, I’ll answer some of your questions,” he spread out his arms, and added, “shoot.”

Dipper shuffled his way closer to the demon, stopping once they were two feet away from one another. He chewed on his lower lip as he organized his thoughts. One thing he’s noticed, regarding the wording of the demons they’ve encountered was that they were baffled _Dipper_ was related to her, whatever it means, it meant they saw her as something _more_ than he was, which was a normal human being. “Is… there something… different about Mabel? I mean different as in, different from other humans.”

“Yes, there is.”

He blinked at the blunt response, that wasn’t informative at all! “What is it? Why is she different?”

Bill stared at him, long and hard with a dull look to his eyes. “Because she’s Mabel.”

“That’s not an answer!”

The demon rolled his eye, “It is a VALID answer, just not a detailed one.” Dipper sent him the nastiest look he could muster, the action only seeming to amuse the demon. “Hey, I didn’t agree to give you _detailed_ answers. The reason why she is different is because she is who she is, someone vastly more interesting than you in every aspect.”

Dipper couldn’t believe this, “I—” his words got caught in his throat. He didn’t care he was being insulted nor that he was being compared to his sister—okay, he did a little but that didn’t matter—he was fucking fuming internally at the lacking in substance responses he was receiving.

Letting out a deep breath through his nose, he started to pace, his actions must have been entertaining to watch for the demon, as he could _feel_ the dream demon’s bemused expression. Not wanting to entertain the asshole for too long, he stopped his musings and faced Bill, who seemed to be enjoying himself, childishly pulling the grass out around him. “Fine, if you won’t answer my question, then at least teach me an offensive spell, I need something to make demons back off.”

And then Bill burst into laughter as if Dipper’s request was the joke of the millennia. The demon wiped an imaginary tear from his eye as he attempted to calm himself, huffing and wheezing as he did so, a simulated response to belittle the red-faced boy in front of him because Bill, the dream demon with no mouth or lungs, did not need to breathe.

“N-no offense kid, but you have the magical capabilities of a BRICK.” Okay, that hurt. Dipper pursed his lips and looked away, staring quite hatefully at a blade of grass, trying to block out the demon’s pained chortles. “Your type can only use magical items and perform shoddy rituals but that’s about it because that’s just how powerless you are.

HAH, using other people’s magic for yourself, because you’re a pathetic bunch of flesh, it’s pretty selfish, huh? Now this is a personal opinion but, that form of magic is COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY USELESS compared to instant casting.” Bill got up from his seat and floated closer to Dipper, tilting to the side—trying to get a better look at the boy. “Oh? OH! DID I HIT A NERVE?” He jabbed Dipper’s cheek, gauging the boy’s reaction. When he got none, the demon proceeded to pinch the brunet’s cheek. It hurt; it hurt quite a bit, the action got the boy’s attention and Bill’s eye lit up in glee. “Don’t worry though Pinetree, you’re still the little _shit_ I know and love~”

“I’m also the only one who talks to you,” Dipper slapped the demon’s hand away from his face, as he snarled, “so I recommend you don’t push it.” He shook his head and ruffled his hair, quite upset that he was—in a way—called useless.

“Oh… was that a THREAT, Pinetree?” The demon wrapped an arm around the boy’s shoulders, and pressed him against his side, digging his point into Dipper’s arm. “I can EVISCERATE YOU right here, right _now_. I’m sure you’re well aware of that.” Dipper didn’t react and that seemed to have caught the demon off guard. Bill backed away, rather disappointed in Dipper’s lackluster attitude as he said, “But you’re right, we’re SUPPOSED to be...” The demon visibly cringed as he said the next word, “ _friends._ Or something.”

Dipper watched the demon before giving up and sat down on the gray grass, sighing inwardly, “I guess this was a pointless visit.”

“NONSENSE! It isn’t pointless if you got to see ME!” Bill chimed. The boy groaned into his hands, maybe seeking out Bill for help was a bad idea. “ANYWAYS! Pinetree, it’s about time you wake up.” He removed his hands from his face to find the yellow demon only a few inches from his face, Bill seemed pleased about something. The demon placed a finger on his forehead, right on his birthmark—and before Dipper could flinch away from his touch he was pushed over quite violently. Just before he hit the grass, he saw the sky. It was black—pitch black, yes, but in the void above was a bunch of small white specks glittering in the dark. The sight immediately caused his heart to yearn for Gravity Falls. With that, his world returned to black.

The next morning, he found Bill on his pillow and his left hand wrapped around a small blue bag and very, _very_ clean cursive on his right palm.

_There are five small orbs in there. I suggest you be VERY careful with them. They might explode in your face if you aren’t. Just throw them at something you don’t like and watch it be DISINTEGRATED!_

✦✦✦

A semester of school had passed… there are now only two blue orbs left.

Dipper had tried haggling them off of Bill, but the demon seemed intent on leaving him desperate. The first one was used on the lady with the sunglasses, she visited them when he and Mabel were just about to leave school. It was an instant death that left behind no evidence.

The second was in the black van. When the absolute creep tried to hand the kids candy, he did not expect Dipper to hand him candy instead, a small blue orb that looked like hard candy was popped into the fool’s mouth. His sweet tooth led to his demise.

The third was, unfortunately, someone they both knew, a cheerleader at their school… apparently, she was a demon. The girl had broken into their home, out of everything that had happened, _that_ incident was the most dangerous—she was _so close_ to succeeding—hands around his sister’s neck while she was sleeping. She was so close; however, she was not fast enough. Dipper didn’t tell Mabel about that one, not like it would have affected her much, his sister has been trying her hardest to forget the deaths of the demons she did witness and the fact that she was still being targeted.

With his help, the incidents have just about ceased…

That was until Mabel was found passed out after being hit in the head, with a bloody Ling found next to her. When Dipper called the paramedics, they confirmed that she had several deep lacerations and multiple broken bones, it was a wonder how she didn’t die from them.

Despite practically becoming a walking mummy, Ling still attended school.

“Dip.” Ling’s voice sounded behind him as they closed the clubroom door. The boy gave them a small hum of acknowledgment as he continued to scribble down notes. Not responding properly dragged a tired sigh from the Asian as she pulled out a chair. “We need to talk.”

The boy slowly turned around. Ling was—for once—not wearing their blue parka, the teen still wore the same black jeans and boots that Dipper has gotten used to, however, their top was a black tank that really showed… how flat his friend was—she was flatter than his back. His eyes scanned over the various bandages peeking out from underneath their clothes and the sling their left hand was in. Ling was a bandage abomination, he wondered how they were able to move without wincing or making pained sounds. “Is something wrong?” Dipper’s eyes widened as he jumped to conclusions. “Nothing happened to Mabel, right?!”

Ling shook her head, “She’s under the protection of Luce’s group. She’ll be fine.”

“But how do you _know_?”

“Because I do.” She snapped, maintaining a cold hard stare on Dipper. Her reddish-brown eyes narrowed on him as she scrutinized the frazzled boy. Finding nothing of note or giving up, she breathed a heavy sigh and broke off eye contact in favor of staring at the papers that lined the desk. “Look, Dipper, you need to stop obsessing over this, I heard you haven’t slept for three days. I understand you want to protect her but this is…” Ling’s eyes raked over the makeshift medallions, crosses, holy water, and Latin textbooks, as she said, “excessive… you don’t even know if this is going to work.”

“That’s exactly why I must do this,” he mumbled, returning his attention to the sheets of paper and the blue bag that rested on him, its contents on the table. “ _Something_ has to work, if I can just figure out how that stupid triangle made those bombs, I might be able to replicate it.”

The Asian seemed taken aback by his statement. “That’s— _Dipper_! That is _far_ too dangerous for you to play around with!”

Dipper felt something snap, he slammed his palms down onto the table, his brown eyes were wide with both anger and desperation, “Then what do you think I should do!?” He gestured to the Asian’s beaten body, “Just look at yourself! Your body is absolutely _destroyed_ protecting Mabel! Her friends might end up like this if I don’t do something, and if they were to die, do you know how horribly upset Mabel would be?! What else is there for me to do? I have no other choice!”

Mabel would be devastated if they were to die due to her, she was too kind-hearted for her own good. The day she found out about Ling’s condition, she broke down crying and sobbing due to _everything_ that has occurred to her friends. Dipper didn’t want to see that _ever_ again, what else could he do? “ _Pretend_ that this isn’t happening?” He bitterly spat out.

Ling, who didn’t seem fazed by his outburst, calmly answered him, “You could, _not_ study those bombs and try making your own weapons.”

“That’s—” the boy groaned in exasperation, he rubbed his face, trying to smudge the tire from it before pointing at the medallions on the table. “What do you _think_ these are?”

“Really badly made medallions that don’t work at all.”

“Thanks! You’re _so_ helpful.” Throwing his hands up in the air, Dipper pushed himself away from the desk the chair spun him to the side so that he was facing the bookshelf.

The boy eyed the older teen as she got up from her chair and headed over to his side, with their free hand, the picked up the papers and began reading through them. Whatever she was doing, the brunet could care less, he was far too tired to think straight nor was he in the mood to be civil about his arguments. After a few minutes of silence, with Dipper on the verge of drifting off, the Asian finally spoke again in a listed tone, “I think you’re trying way too hard. From what I see, you’re trying to make your own spells by mashing one or two together. That’s not how it works, you’re skipping so many steps.”

“Then tell me. _Please_ … tell me what I need to do.” Dipper practically sobbed out his plea.

“You need to learn how to apply magic to items first,” Ling’s eyes watched Dipper, her gaze was steady as she added on, “I’m sure… you already know how to do that.” To which the boy weakly chuckled and nodded.

Dipper spun the chair back to face the table, “What if the enchantment’s not powerful enough?”

Ling brushed her hair out of the way. Having enough of standing, she dragged a chair over and said, “Okay, Dipper, you remember my Sorcerer in our last session of Dungeons, Dungeons, and more Dungeons?”

The boy raised a brow as he watched the Asian plop down into the chair. “Your overpowered level ten sorcerer. Yes, I remember them.”

“Well, here’s the thing Dip, I got into magic crafting as soon as I could and took spells and feats that increased the level of my casts. That’s how I became the unstoppable sorc-tank with the AC of forty-two and the spell DC of twenty-two.” Ling seemed to go on about their ‘Dungeons, Dungeons and more Dungeons’ character like as if they were their crowning achievement. While he understands why the boy couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the reference. His attention was brought back when he felt a hand land on his shoulder and very quickly realized that he was face to face with the older teen—her gaze burrowed into him as she said, in a completely serious voice, “You need to do the same. Enchanting is very simple, you just need to find out what the rules are to certain enchantments and add them to either existing ones or layer on the same bonuses.”

Dipper blinked, “I… think I get it.”

Ling smiled, shifting her attention from the boy to the text that Dipper had open. The teen closed it and ran their hand along the gilded cover, “This grimoire I gave you—for your late birthday—was given for a reason other than a gift.” Their eyes met once more, “I want to help. I _truly_ do. Please… remember that.”

“I can’t help but feel like you’re hiding something from me.”

Pressing their index finger to her lip, Ling winked, “We all have secrets, Dipper… I’m going to go check up on the princess, make sure she’s doing alright. Good luck on gathering materials.” With that, they left the club room without giving time for Dipper to say goodbye.

_Right,_ Dipper lifted the grimoire and placed it on his lap, as well as the notebook he had halfway destroyed, and the Jar holding Bill. After picking out all the important items, he planted his arm down, flat against the table and in one fell swoop, he knocked everything off the table. The mess on the desk was now scattered over the floor as he replaced it with the items on his lap. Taking out his English to Latin dictionary, he began scouring the book for certain chapters. A few minutes of referring the translator back and forth he found several pages that had taken his interest. Several uncommon items—commonly used in these enchantments—Dipper was glad to already have them, unfortunately, most, through unconventional means, such as vials of unicorn blood, in which Mabel had collected several bottles of rainbowy stuff as trophies, and several other things, he had collected many things, from the creatures of Gravity Falls, even a small bag of fairy dust—scraped off the corpses of fairies Soos killed. He flipped to the index of the book, scanning through the text and jotting down any pages he should tread later. Several hours later, what was left of his notebook was filled with page numbers, spell names and ingredients. Dipper bit onto the end of his pen and stared at his notes, blinking away the sleep clouding his head.

Dipper eyed the page, reading over his notes, his brow knit together in both concentration and frustration. _Ornamental silver knife, twenty-five mL of holy water, thirty grams of gold in any form, a precious gem..._ He frowned reading the last bit out loud, “The life essence—blood on most occasions—of an immortal being.”

There was only one immortal he knew… and because he knows this demon, Dipper knew Bill wouldn’t be willing to give up a part of himself for _this_ _thing_ he’s trying to create. Everything else can be found without much struggle. An irritated puff of air escaped him, he stared up at the ceiling till the bell rang— he had missed lunch and last block. He’ll have to somehow find another immortal.

✦✦✦

“Dipper! You got glasses! When did that happen?” Mabel swung their joined hands back and forth, she seemed happy despite all the terror that has happened to her recently. _Good, her spirit’s still not broken_.

The male twin’s face reddened as he pushed his spectacles further up the bridge of his nose, “I asked father to take me to the store,” he chuckled, “it seems all Pines men are cursed to wear glasses.”

“Yeah, you’re starting to look like a girly Grunkle Ford, get a trench coat and _voila_!” Dipper cringed at her comment.

“You… didn’t need to add in the girly bit.”

His sister lets out an innocent giggle, “I love you, bro-bro,” she cooed, moving closer she leaned her head against his, causing a smile to form on Dipper’s lips as he nudged her back slightly.

“I sure feel the love.” He mused. Despite his attention being on his sister, his eyes were jumping from stranger to stranger as they walked down the road, his free hand, fiddling with the gold necklace. Several people who have passed by had red eyes, some of them were smart enough to avoid his gaze, while others had their beady little eyes on his sister. The ones who avoided his gaze must have noticed the magic carved into his spectacles. They were black, wide frames, like the one Ford, wore—or as Mabel liked to call it “the nerd glass”, except there were words and runes etched into the back of the frame. Made to dispel the illusion these demons put up. For being the easiest enchantment only requiring a pair of glasses, any kind of knife and the presence of a holy item—to which Dipper used an old cross he borrowed from his mother’s room—it was probably the most useful one. Especially for what he needs to acquire.

Since his talk with Ling, Dipper has planned several items he could enchant, a watch, his favorite pen he dares not bite, and even his phone was valid items. All that was required of him, was to carry them on his person for the bonuses to stay active. Unfortunately, the spellbinds all require the same thing, the blood of an immortal. Dipper isn’t quite sure he’ll be able to collect blood from these demons surrounding him, but there had to be _one_ that is kind enough for him to receive their blood from… right?

“Dipper,” Mabel’s concerned voice snapped him out of his thoughts, “you were spacing out again. Did you sleep last night?”

“Yes,” he began slowly, “… for four hours, but it’s sleep nonetheless, don’t worry about me, Mabel.” All his sister responded with was a tired sigh. Dipper knew he should sleep to keep his body running, but he was far too preoccupied with other things. Keeping Bill’s physical body from collecting dust for one, another was collecting ingredients. If only Grunkle Stan was around, the old man would be so pleased to know Dipper learned how to pick locks. He didn’t expect to become a thief, but the boy made it a code that if the binding doesn’t destroy the item in the process, he’ll return them to their rightful owners.

Eventually.

The twins continued chatting about until they reached their destination, Ling’s apartment complex. The Asian was seen sitting in the lobby, wearing her usual blue parka, swiftly jumping off the couch she practically bounded over to them and opened the door. “My favorite twins!” Ling brought Mabel into a tight hug and was just about to pull Dipper into one, only to flinch, their reddish-brown eyes wide with surprise, “You got glasses.”

“Mhmm,” Dipper looked away from their brown eyes, the intensity of their stare was starting to get to him, “Do I not look good in them?”

Ling seemed to have snapped out of her shock and pulled Dipper into a hug as well, the boy involuntarily letting out a small “oompf” as he was crushed in her grip. “You look like a nerd.”

“Am I not one?” Dipper coughed out as he was released.

“You right,” Ling took a hold of Mabel’s hand and started for the elevator. “Anyways, let’s go, Mabel’s horrid math skills isn’t going to get any better own its own.”

The girl huffed, making a mock face of offense, “I think my math is just better than all of your lameo math.”

“Two plus two is not a fish, Mabel.” Dipper bluntly clarified.

“It does. You’re just bad at Mabel math.” The male twin proceeded to give his sister the coldest glare ever. As usual, it had no effect.

Ling watched the interaction between the two as she unlocked her apartment door, the teen kicked off her muddy boots and made their way to their living room couch. Flopping down on it and letting out a content sigh. Dipper and Mabel entered the apartment in an orderly fashion and started to pull off their sneakers, once done, Mabel made a run for the couch as Dipper dragged her backpack over to the coffee table, his sister thanked him and began digging around for her math homework as Ling stretched their back. The sound of their spine popping made Dipper cringe which also reminded him of the other’s injuries, “Ling, how are your injuries? Doesn’t stretching like that hurt?”

“It’s healing pretty well considering it’s been nearly a month. Still hurts, though, but I have a high pain tolerance.” She answered. Dipper only hummed in response to them as he dug out a novel. He could still feel Ling’s lingering gaze, addressing it by meeting her’s with a quirk of a brow. They laughed, “I thought you were going to pull out that heavy ass book I gave you.”

“It’s too heavy for me to carry around every day, so I usually look over it at home,” Dipper responded, opening the book in his hands.

His response earned him a conceited scoff from the other teen, she loudly groaned as she settled back on the couch. “That’s a smart choice, wouldn’t want your back to break. By the by, how’s the search for ingredients?”

Mabel, who was texting her friend—most likely Luce looked up from her phone to stare at the two, “Whas that you talking about?” Suddenly a light must have turned on in her mind, her eyes lit up and a smile crossed her face. “Oh! Ingredients? Yeah, Dipper asked for a few vials of unicorn blood from me, as well as a lock of their hair.”

The Asian’s eyes flickered from Dipper to Mabel a few times, “You had… unicorn blood and hair?”

“It’s a long story...” Mabel said as she pulled out her math textbook, “I can tell you that their blood does _not_ taste like candy and rainbows.”

“It does remind me of really sour candy, though.” Dipper absentmindedly slipped in the comment which received quite a disgusted look from Ling. His face reddened, his eyes darted to the side as he rolled out a poor explanation, “I’m… I was confirming some suspicions. Y’know… f-for science.”

Even Mabel wore a face, she looked him up and down, “Dipper that blood is well over a year old. _Gross_.”

Bringing his book up so he could hide his face, he sank into the couch, saying, “Well... my stomach isn’t curling in on itself so I’m… probably fine.”

Ling shuffled closer to Mabel and eyed the questions on the papers, with a happy hum they said, “Glad to hear your hunt is doing fine,” Ling glanced at Dipper and offered him a smile, “if there’s anything you need, feel free to ask me!”

_I need you to hunt down an immortal and obtain a vial of their blood._ The boy laughed at the ridiculous request that crossed his mind. No, Ling was already injured from defending Mabel, he can’t ask them to do something dangerous with the state they’re in. A soft sigh escaped his lips, going unnoticed by the two who say across of him. His brain felt like it was floating around in his skull and his body was cold and heavy. Dipper sucked in a breath as he lowered his books and closed his eyes. Muttering under his breath—barely loud enough for even himself to hear—as he started to slip into unconsciousness, “Bill Cipher is an over confident dream demon. Bill Cipher needs to learn when and when not to shut up. Bill Cipher is way too smug for his own good.”

“You sure love me Pinetree.” Dipper blinked, he was already in the mindscape.

“That—That… was fast.” Slowly getting up from the ground he laid on and using a tree to steady himself, he scanned the monochrome surroundings for the yellow demon.

“Well, your body is sleep deprived.” Dipper looked up to find the demon sitting in a pine, plucking the needles from the branch he was on. Dipper opened his mouth to retort, Bill, however, raised a hand and narrowed his eye down on the boy in contempt, snarling, he said, “four hours does not count as _proper_ rest.”

“You’re upset.”

“OF COURSE, I’M UPSET! You’ve _deprived_ me of CAGEY LIMITED freedom, entertainment, and food for a MONTH.” The demon snapped back. He floated off the branch and approached Dipper, who had unconsciously backed away from the red-eyed demon. “What have you been doing that’s keeping you awake?” He asked, voice low and even.

“I—… I’ve been researching something,” Dipper paused, “something to protect, Mabel.”

Bill scoffed, throwing his hands up in exasperation, “OH OF COURSE! TO ‘PROTECT’ MABEL!” The demon suddenly turned back to him, sclera black and bricks red, “You sure this isn’t because you get a power trip having an advantage over others?”

“It’s not something that would allow me to have an advantage—”

Dipper was cut off when the demon picked him up by the collar of his shirt, “Don’t.” The boy let out a steady breath, his gaze locked with the black eye. “Don’t lie to me, Pinetree,” Bill threw him away like as if he were a scorching metal bar, snapping “the ONLY reason you aren’t telling me is because _I_ wouldn’t like it. Which meant it’s something dangerous—not to you, _no_ it won’t hurt you—but it will hurt me. I’m, right, aren’t I? Now be a good _friend_ and tell me what are you trying to make.”

Dipper averted his gaze to focus on the ground, the flowers were withering, “I… can’t tell you.”

“JUST GREAT, FAN-FUCKING-TABULOUS, I hate it here—HATE IT! I can’t do anything, no memories to play with, no one to watch, I’m not a dream demon here. It’s awful you know that? You’ve cut off all my limbs and placed me here in this PRISON! _Oh_ , what I would do to get out and fucking _strangle_ you—”

“I need your blood,” Dipper stated, his eyes still focused on the grass.

He did not notice the demon until he was pinned against a tree with black claws digging into his neck, “What the hell are you trying to make?”

Dipper made a strangled noise to which Bill loosened his grip, only slightly, enough so that the boy would slide down the trunk and get back on their feet. His hand, however, did not leave Dipper’s throat. “I need an immortal’s blood! It’s not supposed to be specifically yours but—… You’re the only one I know, please, I only have you.”

There was nothing but pure rage in the way Bill glared at Dipper, “You’re skipping SO many steps, kid. You’re asking _me_ for my own _blood_ , after all the shit you’ve pulled? You. Are. HILARIOUS!” The demon spat, the black hand around the boy’s neck slowly retracted, Dipper found himself falling to the ground, knees weak. “Find someone who will fall for your silver tongue. I don’t want to see you.”

Dipper awoke to the sound of a fridge closing. He craned his head to the side to see Ling at the kitchen counter drinking milk from a carton. It was dark, it seems that night had fallen and they were staying over—most likely because he passed out. The Asian glanced at him then at Mabel, who was sleeping on the couch opposite to him. She placed the carton back into the fridge and wordlessly announced she was retiring by leaving the kitchen to go upstairs.

The boy looked down at the blanket he was covered by, then at the pillow. Deciding that staying up wasn’t worth it to bother her, he settled back down and went to sleep.

It was the first night—in nearly a year in a half—he had a nightmare.


	7. Capture bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not fucking dead, but uh hi, I'm back! After reading through this again I forgot that I kinda liked this story and so I decided to work on it as a side project of mine. Since I got a few lovely comments encouraging me to continue, I decided to come back and post the chapters I had prepared.
> 
> Your comments are what keeps me going. I'll try and continue this until AT LEAST, Bill gets a body and these two make out. That is my ultimate goal.

Dipper woke up from a nightmare, the images, and scenes still vivid in his mind. There was something, terribly, _terribly_ wrong with the way the room was, it was unnaturally cold, and there was a coppery smell that hung in the air. He jolted upright and lurched forwards, grabbing the trash can he had at his ready and emptied last night’s dinner into it, hating the burn of the contents of his stomach and hating the smell even more. Bill has refused to eat his nightmares, he laid on his pillow unmoving and unchanging holding a deep grudge that Dipper didn’t understand. The boy sobbed as he finished emptying the contents of his stomach, taking time to wipe the grossness off his face with a tissue he placed down the barf can and glanced at Mabel’s sleeping form. Luckily, all the noise Dipper caused did not wake her up which he was grateful for. He watched her in her bed as her covers moved up and down the sound of her soft snores. Mabel was safe, she was not dead, and Dipper still had a job to complete.

The boy carded a hand through his hair as he breathed a shaky sigh, trying clear his acid damaged throat. Cautiously, the boy picked up the slumbering demon and grabbed the jar atop his nightstand. Ever since his argument with the yellow beast, he hadn’t visited him in a month or two and while he disliked battling his bloody nightmares featuring his friends and family. He hated confrontation… but as it is now, he may need to have a chat with Bill and see if they could come to an agreement.

“Dipper, honey? You’re awake?” It was his mother’s voice. The boy smiled at the woman who opened his door, her soft voice was always a pleasant sound to wake up to especially after a rough night. “Come on, breakfast is ready.”

“Give me a few seconds, mom.” Dipper snatched his glasses up from the nightstand and slid them on, he turned back to her and said, “Okay! I’m rea… dy…”

“Hm? Is something wrong dear?” She gave him a smile—it was a bit too wide.

Dipper blinked as she left the room with a smile on her face and a skip to her steps.

The woman had bright red eyes.

✦✦✦

Sherry Pines was the owner of a travel franchise, she was also a mother. A very kind and enthusiastic woman, who, despite being extremely busy, tried her best to spend time with her children. Dipper can fondly recall the very few moments in which he spent time with his mother and found no malice in them.

The children were lucky to have her as a mother. Mabel had gotten a lot from her, her cheerfulness, her kind attitude towards other people, and her looks—even Dipper had her physical features. She was known to give her children hugs and apologize for never being around often or missing important days for the twins. While Mabel would flip, and throw tantrums over her not coming to recitals or parent-teacher days, Dipper understood that work meant comfort for the family, he never bothered her with phone calls when she was gone or tried to drag her out of her room to spend time with the tired woman. However, now, he wished he did.

“Grunkle Ford.”

Dipper sat in the bathroom with the shower on and BABBA playing in the background as Bill sat on the sink edge in his jar.

“Dipper! Good to hear you again,” Hearing Ford’s voice was a relief, he had missed the old man who happened to be the only other person who understood him. “Why are you in the shower on the phone? Oh! Is it for efficiency?” The boy rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything, “I heard you got a phone from, Mabel. Why didn’t you call me sooner?”

“I’ve been… very busy.” Dipper said in a whisper. He didn’t know where his fake mom was and if she was outside listening to him. Which meant he’ll have to take extra precautions. On the phone, he heard Ford take in a breath, and before the old timer could say anything, the brunet cut him off, “No, don’t ask, I’ll explain it later but, we need to talk. You need to give me answers, how much do you remember from the journals?”

“A fairly decent amount, my memory is not what it used to be though, so I might have some issues answering you. Dipper what’s going on?”

And so, Dipper told him, he told Ford about the incident at the party, he informed him about the demons attempting to take Mabel’s life… about how he killed them. His Grunkle didn’t seem phased about the details he was receiving—that was until Dipper told him about their mother. Sherry and her red eyes. The only thing he didn’t tell Ford was anything related to Bill in fear of causing the old man to flip out and forget what they were talking about.

“That’s... no, this can’t be happening, you sure it wasn’t just a trick of light?” Ford’s disbelief was shown in his voice.

Dipper breathed in collecting himself after his long spiel. “My glasses allows me to see through illusions. It’s not a light trick.”

“I… I really have, no idea what is happening,” his Grunkle paused, sucking in a shaky breath, “I’m so sorry Dipper.”

The boy bit his lower lip as his head spun from nervousness and breathing a bit too fast. “… That’s alright Grunkle Ford, I’ll figure something out.”

“Dipper, before you hang up… make sure—make _one hundred percent sure_ that the woman in your house is _not_ your mother.” Ford’s warning only made him more nervous, it couldn’t be his mother, could it?

“I will.” Dipper hung up and quickly closed the tap. He sat by the tub for a few minutes, watching the water drip from the tap. Drip, there had to be an easy way to confirm the identity of the woman. Drip, if it really is his mother, how will he remove whatever is affecting her? Drip, that also begs the question, if it’s his mother who was being controlled… then what about the people he—

Drip.

 _Nope. No. Don’t think about it._ Dipper quickly got up and stopped the song, he swiftly stripped and entered the shower to clean himself, wash away all the gross feelings and disturbed thoughts his demented mind was trying to push upon him. In there he brushed his teeth and shampooed his hair, making sure that he’s soaped and rinsed every part of his body in scalding hot water.

When he left the tub, his entire body was red as a beet from the burning temperature he bathed in, which was just perfect for him. It wasn’t a shower unless he’s burned everything off of him. Hopefully, it the drain also took his insecurities, though that would only be wishful thinking.

Dipper faced the mirror, as he dried himself off. There stood a dark-eyed boy with a mess of hair resting on his scalp, longer than he had once remembered but still the same wavy brown locks he remembered—he hadn’t bothered to get it cut recently. The curls wrapped around his pale complexation and with a sigh, he brushed it out of the way as he examined his face for any shadows or hair he may need to shave off. Dipper’s appearance had barely aged. However, there were small changes that were bound to happen. His face had lost all the baby chub, and he was getting taller, there was a noticeable amount of difference in maturity in the photos he had a year and a half ago to him now, and he found himself, somewhat wishing for those days to come back to him. Where they were innocent, and he didn’t possibly murder humans without knowing— _no stop_.

Dipper turned on the tap and ran cold water over his hot hands, cupping the liquid in his palms before slapping it over his face.

He had to snap out of this, he still needed to confirm his mother’s identity.

And now he had the perfect idea, all he needed was her blood.

✦✦✦

“Mom, we need to use up the groceries from this week, it’ll go bad if we don’t.” Dipper peeked into her room, for the first time since he was _eight_ was to trick her. How shitty of a son was her? He’ll berate himself for it later by right now? He needed to get things done.

His mother spun her chair around to face him. “Oh! I should make you guys some dinner, huh?” Jumping to her feet, she quickly made her way to Dipper which inadvertently caused the boy to tense due to her sudden close proximity. She leaned down and asked him, “What would you like to eat?” her burning red eyes bore into his brown orbs and straight into his soul…

“Hamburger steak dinner, please! I’ll help you prepare today.” He said happily as he headed down the hall with his _‘mom’_ following close behind.

“Mom and son bonding time, I’m down for it.” She hummed happily zooming past Dipper and down the steps of their small apartment. Her sudden burst of energy worried Dipper as he tried to keep up without being too suspicious. He reached the stairs just in time to see her head into the kitchen and upon entering, he saw his mother fumbling through the fridge for the package of beef. While she did that, Dipper kept one eye on her as he went to the sink and washed his hands, and then prepared the cutting board.

The boy turned to her, asking, “Can you skin the potatoes? I’m still no good at it, I’ll prepare the meat and add the spices.”

“Sure honey,” The woman took out the beef and handed it to him while she got the potatoes, Dipper eyed her for a moment studying her as he got to work. When she came over, the boy offered to wash the potatoes and as he washed them, Sherry began skinning the first tater. He felt horrible for doing this to his mother—if she was his mother—but a sick part of him wanted this demon to be harmed. He wasn’t going to allow them to kill Mabel, and above it all, he wanted to know whether or not that small nagging feeling in the back of his mind was correct. So, while she worked, Dipper waited for the blade to near her hand, and when it did, a sudden bump into the arm holding the knife cut her hand.

“Oh Christ! I’m so sorry.” Dipper quickly jumped from the sink to grab a tissue, before she could run her hand under cold water he snatched it and wrapped the cloth around the wound, letting the paper soak up the red liquid.

His mother gave him a warm smile as she watched her son try and help her. “It’s not that big of a deal, dear. I’m just going to clean it and then dress it up.” She used her other hand to pat his head. Ah, his heart squeezed itself, and he could feel his resolve tumbling down into a spiraling pit. Out of his throat came a pathetic choked whimper as he removed himself from his mother and folded the tissue behind him.

At least he accomplished this task.

“I’m...I’m sorry, I’ll leave and get Mabel, she’s much better at this than I am.” Dipper dipped his head and stared at the ground, his fake mother let out a laugh that was so similar to the original that it caused his chest to tighten more. What was he to do if he finds out this is a fake? A demon? He’ll have to kill it to protect Mabel, but that also means he’ll be sticking a knife—metaphorically, he’ll actually be blowing her up—through an imitation of her. Dipper excused himself and ran up to his room, opening the door to find Mabel working on her homework, “Mabel, can you help mom downstairs? She cut herself while skinning the potatoes.”

“Sure Dip-Dop, the room’s all yours,” his sister happily said none the wiser to what he was about to do. He watched with a tight-lipped smile as she hopped out of her chair and skipped her way to their door, her skirt swaying side to side as well as her ponytail—which seems to be a fixed appearance for her now.

Dipper listened to her steps fade before heading to his desk. There, laid atop his desk was stacks of papers from all sorts of school subjects and a few random scribbles of Bill and or the other creatures of Gravity Falls. Plopping down on his seat and rifling through the drawers of their desk, he pulled out the grimoire and slapped it down on the desk, disturbing the other items scattered about the table. With a long sigh, he began flipping through the pages looking for a simple enchantment that required the blood he just acquired. Luckily, a few pages into the book, he found what he was looking for, Dipper grabbed his Latin dictionary and practiced the pronouncing the sentence.

“ _San_ … _sanguis animae_ … uh. _Damnaaa-torum a._ Christ, okay in due time, Dipper, practice.” From his room, Dipper could hear Mabel, the red-eyed woman and his father laughing, a dry swallow made it down his throat, his father was downstairs, she wouldn’t dare try something. Returning his attention to the book, he began collecting the ingredients for the enchantment. Dipper took off his watch and placed it on the page, on the very center of the circle drawn there, adding the bloody tissue, and a silver bell onto the page afterward all the while continually repeating the phrase over and over, trying to perfect the sentence. Once ready, he pressed his palms down onto the wooden desk, his thumbs resting on the pages.

In the back of his head, a familiar high pitched voice said, _‘_ _Spellbind_ _s_ _are_ _honestly my favorite_ _type_ _of magic. It requires the user to have an ASSLOAD of faith in magic and the occult, they can’t be uncertain of themselves when they begin the ritual._ _’_ Dipper’s mouth thinned into a white line as he listened to the voice. _‘So, before we get started, I’ll help you come to terms with this world and how to accept futility._

 _The only thing you can be sure of is your own existence—as meaningless as it is. After all, you are alone in that fleshy head of yours, and because you are alone, you have the ability to say anything is real, and it can become real to you._ _’_ Taking a deep breath, the boy muttered the Latin sentence once more. _‘_ _You can only trust yourself… lonely, isn’t it?_ _’_

_“Wouldn’t that apply to you too? Are you lonely?”_

_“I don’t know. Am I?”_

“ _Sanguis animae damnatorum a._ ” Dipper watched the blood from the tissue leap to life, it drained from the tissue and collected itself into a small red orb, floating an inch from the page. It worked! Or at least Dipper thought it did for the split second it floated in the air.

He watched as the glowing red text on the page faded and the blood splash back onto the folded tissue. It didn’t work, and Dipper now knew why. It wasn’t because he was uncertain of himself—no it would have exploded in his face if that were the case. This only meant one thing and one thing… the blood was not that of an immortal… it was one of a mortal.

A human.

He heard the creak of a door opening behind him. A small gasp escaped his lips when he turned and was greeted with wide glowing red eyes. His mother stood unnaturally still like she was a frozen frame in a horror movie, she with her messy bedhead hair stared at Dipper with emotionless eyes that refused to look at anything other than he son.

“I was told to kill the girl, but it’s clear now, you are a liability, you know more than that little girl would ever know.” Slender fingers found its way to Dipper’s throat. The boy could do nothing but stare at his mother as she began to squeeze his neck. He gasped and rose a hand in an attempt to fight off the woman, but unfortunately, he had the body of a fourteen-year-old that could not fight back a grown woman.

So, all Dipper could do was watch her as her features imitated that of a feral beast. Her eyes bulged out of her sockets like a hamster while being squeezed as a snarl took over her calm expression. The brunet’s hand automatically went to his neck and began clawing at her hands. He screamed for help which caught someone’s attention downstairs but, his mother was not pleased with his attempt to get back up. She picked him off the table and slammed him against it, knocking the air out of the boy she was trying to kill. Dipper teared up as his nails dug into her flesh, but she did not seem to care when he dragged his nails into her skin. He could hear the ringing in his ears and the dense cloud taking over his mind trying to wipe it of consciousness.

“Holy shit! Sherry what are you doing?!” Dipper, in his oxygen-deprived brain barely heard his father, the man ran over to her and started to pry her hands off the slumped body. “Get from him! That’s our son!” The boy collapsed onto the floor, attempting to suck in air as he watched his father wrestle his wife onto the floor, a look of horror and confusion evident on his face as he battled flailing limbs and nails.

Mabel was the next to come into the room and oh, sweet, fragile Mabel immediately broke down in tears, Dipper halfway thought she was going to pass out or bite her tongue off to escape the situation… but no, she hardened herself and pulled out her cell.

“Nine one one? Please… oh god, get an ambulance, m-my mo—ther” she took in a shaky breath, before continuing, “she attacked my brother.” Dipper slowly blinked, he was tired, his brain not functioning as it should be, he wanted to give in to the light feeling in his head and float away, but not before muttering under his breath the name of a particular demon.

✦✦✦

When Dipper woke up in his mindscape, the first thing he noticed was the absolute _disrepair_ it was in, no it wasn’t just disrepair— it seemed as if a blazing tornado came through and destroyed everything. Was Bill trying to ruin his mind? Dipper touched the trees that were burnt and broken and reverted the damages, watching as the tree rebuilt itself—or more likely _rewind_ to its previous state. He glanced down at the burnt grass and stepped on the ashes, watching it revert back to its lively self, slowly spreading out in a creeping circle. Bill did quite a toll on this section of his mind, whatever memories were stored here was probably messed with and destroyed… hopefully, that wasn’t the case.

Dipper opened his mouth and tried to call out for the demon, only for a raspy breath to escape through his lips. His voice was a mess. He tried once more, “—ill...”

The demon didn’t say or do anything. The world was as muted and silent as ever, not even the owl sound effect the demon played from last time was here to greet him. Dipper closed his tired eyes as he tried to focus and find the beast, as he pondered the dream demon’s whereabouts, his eyes caught sight of a charred lantern on the forest floor, then another and another. It was a trail, that’s what they were supposed to be used for, and Bill burned them down in a fit of rage, all because of Dipper. Shaken by the grim sight of the demon’s wrath upon this side of his mind, he slowly followed the trail of lanterns and took in his new surroundings as his footsteps gradually reverted some of the damage.

While Dipper was busy around, he failed to notice the twig he accidentally stepped on and strangely enough, unlike everything else in this world, it responded with sound. He looked down at it, only to his horror—shock really, he didn’t expect this—found a thin black arm that was _strikingly_ familiar, one that he had been looking at for over a year and a half and wiping dust off of. Dipper gingerly picked up the severed limb, ignoring the way it twitched the moment he touched it and continued down the destroyed path.

“ _Well_ ,” Dipper’s eyes widened as he heard a distant familiar voice, he began running to the source of it. “Look who _finally_ decided to show up.” He found himself at a destroyed clearing and at the very center was a pale-yellow demon ripping away at his hat with his remaining arm.

The boy’s eyes scanned the area to find that the demon had been throwing his _body parts_ around the area in the act of boredom or retaliation. He carefully took a step closer to Bill who was missing his eye, from this distance, Dipper could see limp blue threads hanging from the demon’s empty black socket, as the organ rested on the burnt grass beside him. Bill’s bowtie was missing a chunk— _oh god_ it was actually _apart_ of his body. His golden bricks were covered in scratch marks. Dipper approached the demon and realized that Bill had also removed his legs, they were nowhere to be seen. There were so many questions Dipper had, but he doubted Bill wanted to talk about what brought about this behavior. So instead of asking or saying anything, he sat a foot away from the demon, watching the demon as Bill’s eye did the same to him.

The two stayed like that for what felt like an eternity in silence.

Bill was the first to break the silence. “So, _Copper_ , what have you come to ask of me? My blood? Or maybe you’ve already made your weapon, and now you’ve come to threaten me.”

“—ill...” Dipper rasped, he frowned and touched his neck, he could _feel_ his mother’s marks on his flesh.

Bill’s eye stared at him scanning his body, once done, the demon used his remaining hand to snap his fingers, “Oh! Did you come to ask for your voice back? Sorry can’t really help you fix your body functions,” Dipper shook his head and looked away, how was he going to communicate with Bill like this? The demon snapped his fingers once more, with a grimace as he said, “So _needy_. There. Speak.”

“Bill,” Dipper cringed at the sound of his own voice, it was still raspy and rough, “… what happened to you?”

“Oh? You’re concerned about my well being! Well, that’s GOLDEN Pinetree, thought you only cared about Mabel.” Dipper bit back a frown, as Bill continued, “ _Mabel, Mabel, Mabel, save Mabel._ You repeat that shit like a broken record ya know that? Give it a FUCKING BREAK, Pinetree, the girl, ain’t THAT helpless.”

Dipper breathed out a shaky sigh, as he said, “Bill, I really didn’t come to shit on you.”

The demon ripped off a part of his hat as a response to Dipper’s statement, it made an inhuman screech as it was torn off of Bill’s body. The demon scoffed and huffed sarcastically making noises to show his scepticism as he swung the flesh around like it wasn’t a part of his body.

“You might not be here to shit on me, but that doesn’t mean _I_ can’t shit on you. You came to ask for something again.” Just as Dipper was about to speak Bill threw the bloody piece of himself at the boy, screaming, “NO SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” The boy yelp as the chunk landed on his head, reflexively jerking away from the feeling as it fell to the ground. Dipper’s panicked eyes flickered between the chunk of hat flesh and Bill as he placed the ruined hat back where it belonged. He scoffed once more and laughed to himself like the crazed maniac he was.

“Just so we’re clear Pinetree, I don’t give a FLYING FUCK about what you want, I NEVER did and I NEVER will. So, will you SHUT UP and listen to what I want? Nope, not even going to give you a chance to deny me.

Pinetree, I _hate_ you, I _despise_ your existence. From what I have seen so far in the multiple sessions I’ve known you, I found that you are nothing more than a wretched human who relies too much on others and deludes himself into believing you have a higher purpose. It’s absolutely _appalling_ how far you would go to do that—to feel wanted, needed, and _loved_. Well know this, no one truly wants you. One of these days you are going to fail your loved ones, and I’m going to be there— _as your prisoner_ —watching you _crumble_ and fall apart. I will savor every moment of that day.” The boy just stared at the demon in silence, he wanted to respond and defend himself, but with the state of mind the triangle was in, that was probably not a good idea. He did not want to anger him anymore. “Not going to say anything? Good, don’t speak,”

Bill paused for a moment, his hand tugged at his bowtie, not to fix it but it seemed like the equivalent of someone pulling their hair, “I’ll do WHATEVER you want, Pinetree, will that make you happy? I’m rotting away in here, this is worse than when Sixer attempted to erase me! At least in Stanley’s head—I sat in the endless void without the constant presence of the old man.

Now, THIS? THIS PLACE, REMINDS ME OF ALL MY FAILURES AND YOU COME HERE EVERY NOW AND THEN TO _TAUNT_ ME. So, this is what I want: EITHER NEVER COME BACK OR LET ME OUT” Bill’s body flashed red. For a moment, Dipper thought he was going to die when the demon’s spindly white hand darted out in his direction before the boy could even react with a scream, the fisted hand punched him right in the gut. A choked cry left his lips as Dipper curled in on himself, trying to recover from the hard hit to his stomach.

Something fell to his lap, and it took Dipper a moment to register the cold glass on his skin, the white arm slowly returned to black and receded away from him, falling limp on the ground in it’s stretched out and spindly state looking more like rope than an actual limb.

The brunet slowly raised his head to find the large yellow eye watching him, his empty socket secreted droplets of a clear liquid— _tears_. Bill Cipher was _actually_ crying. Dipper didn’t know if it was from desperation or rage, probably both it was both.

Dipper glanced down at the item the demon dropped into his lap, it was a small triangular vial containing a red liquid that churned about inside the glass—desperately trying to escape its confines.

“Just take it and GET ME OUT OF HERE!” shouted Bill, he dug his claws of his one remaining hand into the earth as Bill’s pupil looked away, focusing its gaze onto a blade of burnt grass that he found interesting for no reason in particular.

Dipper studied the demon long and hard, Bill had never been like this before, he couldn’t remember the last time Bill had been so desperate looking. Wait, he shouldn’t empathize with a demon who had killed more people than Dipper can count, and probably the same people over and over just for the heck of it. This was a murderer he was looking at, one who saw no need for rules or morality. Anything of the norm or seen as sane, was to be avoided. Things of routine and the laws of society were overlooked as nothing but bullshit _‘monkeys’_ put together to organize themselves and create a fake reality. Dipper shouldn’t be sharing his empathy with such a creature, but he could understand him to a degree, and the funny thing was that Bill probably thought the age of slaves and loincloths were the ideal reality for living beings. Where murder and allowing death to come to the sick was acceptable because it was evolution.

“Confinement,” Dipper uttered, “That’s what you fight. You fight order and rules, seeking freedom from the imprisonments of some form of government and imaginary boundaries. Of course, freedom isn’t wholly good—can’t have free will without utter chaos because people are inherently evil.” He let out a raspy chuckle, “I’m your warden here, that’s why you despise me… but, I don’t want to be your enemy, Bill. Rules give us protection, instead of fighting it, why don’t you give into it?”

The demon turned red, and the claws digging into the ground shot to grab the boy’s shirt and tug him forwards. “What is this _capture bonding_ aspect of yours? When did that develop? You think it’s going to be _that_ easy to manipulate me?”

A wry smile formed on the boy’s face, “I can free you from the jar once we return to Gravity Falls,” that seemed to have caught the demon’s attention—for the hand holding him tightened the grip on his shirt, but the arm itself relaxed, “… I have a few bindings that’ll keep you in check, and with a deal, you can follow a set of rules that you have to follow, so you aren’t harmed by Ford or anyone else.”

“YOU THINK _THEY_ CAN HARM ME?” Bill was outraged by Dipper’s unintentional insult. “I THINK YOU HAVE IT WRONG PINETREE—”

“Both _you_ and I know, that in your state especially after your defeat, the position you are in now, makes you powerless. Either you listen to me and receive _some_ freedom, or stay in a Jar forever.” Dipper reasoned, he felt the hand slowly uncoil from his shirt and make its way up to his neck, it wrapped around his slender throat and gave it a light squeeze.

“Or I can kill you now.”

“And be stuck in this realm, forever asleep.”

Bill’s hand lingered wrapped around his neck, the marks from his mother seemed to burn at the demon’s touch, but Dipper made no move to remove himself from Bill’s grasp. It stayed there, curved around his neck for an extended period of time as the demon busied himself in his own thoughts. Eventually, Bill gave in, his hand once again fell limp to the ground, landing in Dipper’s lap. An audible sigh of relief left the boy as he picked up the vial of swirling blood. It had finally calmed down from it’s fit of trying to escape the container, lying dormant on the bottom of the glass bottle. He couldn’t believe the demon gave him this, considering how violent Bill became after the first-time Dipper asked for it.

Once more the child looked at the defeated demon—who was in absolute shambles, the boy carefully took Bill’s remaining hand with both of his and held it to his chest. He’ll heal, he’s a demon after all.

“I won’t ever use what I’m planning to make on you.”

Bill’s empty eye socket closed, “We both know that’s a lie, Pinetree.”

✦✦✦

Dipper awoke in a strange room; the ceiling was covered in white tiles and the large window beside his bed leaked in a blinding white light. His eyes wandered to the white surfaces, white chair, white nightstand, white sheets… everything seemed so pure and sanitized.

Everything except him.

A nurse was standing next to his bed, too focused on a clipboard to notice his awakening. He tried to call out for her, only to realize his throat was bandaged and for a raspy wail to leave his lips. Despite it being a rather depressing sound, it at least got her attention. “Oh, you’re awake. Let me get your family.”

He wanted to ask about his mother. But decided that it would be better to learn about what was done to her from his father or Mabel.

 _“I was told to kill the girl_. _”_

**Keyword: _told_**

Someone or something is after Mabel’s life, and Dipper needed to find out who or what is planning this. For both his sister’s sake as well as… his mother’s…

And then everything else came rushing forwards like water out of a broken dam.

 _I killed people._ He sucked in a shaky breath and began to sit up, feeling sick. _I didn’t know, it’s not my fault, it wasn’t on purpose._ Dipper kept telling himself that, like a mantra. His hand rose to his head, and a soundless cry left his mouth as he clawed at his scalp, tangling his fingers in his locks. That woman with the sunglasses had a wedding ring when he killed her—erased her body from existence—she carried with her, baby toys. A new mother; he killed a _mother_ and left a child motherless and made a father wifeless. The cheerleader, he knew nothing about her, nor did he care for that matter. There was a memorial for her at school, a bunch of her friends were found red-eyed and sobbing over their friend who had just, one day, disappeared. Everyone suspected it was a kidnapping, but there was nobody and there never will be one, her family and friends will always have that small amount of hope in them that will lead them to intense heartache, uncertain of what became of their daughter and or classmate. The day everyone was mourning her disappearance—even Mabel was too—Dipper felt nothing but bitterness towards the girl who tried to attack his sister. _I killed humans._

“DIPPER!” The door slammed open, the boy looked at his sister who was staring at him with swollen red eyes. He wondered if that girl he killed had a sibling… _did it matter now?_ Mabel ran to his side and practically tackled him with a hug, from the door came him his father who had bags under his puffy red eyes, another was to follow after him, Ling who was watching him with furrowed brows. His sister squeezed him, “I was so scared. They said m-mom almost broke your neck, it’s a miracle you didn’t fully lose your voice.”

“—bel…” Dipper unfisted his hands from his hair and returned her embrace, his previous panic quickly receding as he decided to focus on her warm, shaking body. Nothing can genuinely justify what he did to the three he killed, but at least his sister was still here.

His father was whispering to the nurse about something, the man seemed to avoid his gaze, his father seemed more distressed than usual. The poor man was led out of the room by the nurse. He had a few scratches on his cheek and a few bandages on his neck as well. His mother must have put up a fight against her own husband as she tried to get him off of him. However, it seemed she failed and was subdued.

“真实…” Ling looked his way with a frown on her features. “Your mother is still acting strangely; the doctors have no idea why. They had to use anaesthetics on her to calm her down…” his friend slowly approached and took a seat at the foot of his hospital bed, adding, “your father is thinking of sending you somewhere away from her until she is healed. I suggested Gravity Falls with your Grunkles. Unfortunately, it seems they aren’t in the shack?”

Mabel hugged her twin tighter, she sniffed, “Grunkle Stan and Ford are traveling the world. B-but I’m sure they will come back to help us…”

Ling gave them a grim smile before looking away. “Don’t worry, your father seems to trust this man named Soos, he is arranging a few things with your school to let you guys go as soon as you can.” Mabel slowly slipped away from Dipper and faced the older teen. Ling who was had been watching the sobbing girl as they patched up her brother offered the girl a reassuring smile and placed a hand on the girl’s, interlacing their fingers and giving it a tight squeeze. “Looks like this might be goodbye.”

Dipper let out a strangled groan in an attempt to say something. His sister read his mind and softly said, “You can always come visit us.”

“That’s a nice idea, I am graduating this year…” Ling smiled and pulled their hand away from Mabel’s grasp, “I’ll see what I can do. Don’t know if the old folks in China will be okay with that idea. Then again, they are usually against all my ideas.” She slowly got up, stretching once she on their feet, turning to Dipper she said, “I’m going to go now, I have to help Luce’s brother with some things. Remember, I’m always available to call or message. Don’t hesitate if something bad happened or is on your mind.” The way they said it seemed more like a command than it was an offer. Dipper only gave them a small nod before Ling left the room. Leaving just him and Mabel, who was eyeing the bandage around his neck.

“That’s… she’s not _really_ our mom, right?” Dipper contemplated whether it was better to lie to her or tell Mabel the truth. He opted for the truth as lying would only hurt her more especially if she found out later on. Giving his twin a slow nod he watched her eyes slowly began to well up with tears. Mabel covered her mouth and let out a quiet sob, and attempting to console her, Dipper moved to embrace his elder sister… only for Mabel to gently push him away, “I… I need to go.” He gave his sister a sympathetic nod as she hastily exited the room.

He was all alone now.

No nurse and no family. Just him and… on the nightstand was Bill in his glass prison. Just him and Bill Cipher. Dipper patted his bed looking for the glass vial, after a bit of groping, his hand hit something, and he tugged it out from under his covers. In his palm was now the blood of his family’s enemy… and on his side, was the blood of innocents who have been wronged by a higher power than them.

He was just too blind to have noticed that they were being influenced and he punished them for that.

Dipper fell back against the bed and pressed the vial of blood to his forehead. He’s done far too much to go back now… he knows too much to ignore this reality. Dipper has done a lot of wrongs and knows a lot of wrongs. Maybe he can do something right for someone, even if it means doing wrong by putting a collar on them.

_You think you’re so clever, don’t you, Dipper?_

The shapeshifter is wrong. Dipper is sure that he has the power to make everyone happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Their relationship as it is rn isn't that good, eh?


	8. I Never Said That

Once again, the boy was violently awoken. Dipper’s eyes snapped open to a darkened room. His breathing was erratic, and his heart pounded against his ribs like a heavy hitting drummer, it could—it could _burst_ at any given moment! The human body is fragile after all. Panic settled in faster than it would typically have due to his nightmare, or was it because in his dreams he was already undergoing an attack? His body was covered in cold sweat from head to toe, causing the warm air in the room to uncomfortably crawl against his skin. Dipper slowly rose from his bed, allowing his blanket to fall off him in a cascade of linen fabric, the boy glanced down at his sweat-soaked bedsheets desperately trying to focus on the dark stains on his pillow while rocking a violent headache that made his head spin with a vengeance against gravity. His body felt heavy, and his limbs felt weak. Despite the pain he was being subjected to, the brunet was able to quickly manhandle the garbage can into a close enough distance to empty the contents of his stomach—which wasn’t a lot, he ended up only puking bile and stomach fluid—into the poor trash can.

_Where am I?_

Dipper was disorientated, the room he was sleeping in was dark and strange… he didn’t quite recognize where he was. Was he still in the Mystery Shack? If so, why were the walls pink and why was the ceiling white? The boy tilted his head as his spinning eyes tried to focus on the sleeping body where Mabel would be, and in the bed, was a lump with brown hair. For a split second, he thought that was her, that it was Mabel Pines, his beloved twin, and lifelong friend, but something bitter within knew better than to believe _that_ _thing_ was Mabel.

She was long gone, the body was nothing but a sweet lie and the poster decorated room, surely had to be hell. Dipper began to whimper as he looked at the blurry unidentifiable faces staring down at him, hiding in the blackness of the unknown room. Had he been kidnapped again? Where was Bill—

In his hand on his pillow.

The concept of time rushed back to him, and he felt his senses hone into reality. He felt the truth within himself; like the intangible feeling of understanding was lukewarm and accessible by anyone who dares reached past his ribcage. Dipper placed a hand on his expanding and deflating chest as he reminded himself of who and where he was while his fingernails dug into the flesh of his being.

Piedmont, California, far from the Mystery Shack and far from tragedy. His name was Mason Pines, and he was safe.

Relief escaped his lips as he sucked in a shaken breath and inhaled the snot leaking out of his nose. Dipper wiped up his tears at the realization that, it was nothing—all of this was nothing more than a dream. A ruthless one at that.

Dipper clambered out of bed feeling disgusted with himself. His skin felt grimy, almost as if he hadn’t showered in a decade—no, a millennia! It was as if he woke covered in the viscera of unidentified humans! The brunet tried not to think of it too much as he dragged the demon off his pillow and made his way to the bedroom door. He had to get dressed and go home.

Wait.

No this _was_ his home, what was he thinking? Dipper used his free hand to slap himself across the face, the sound of the impact echoed in the small room causing the body— _Mabel_ — to stir in its— _her_ —sleep. He took one deep breath to calm himself and a second one to remind himself. _Your name is Mason Pines otherwise, known as Dipper Pines. You’re alive, and your sister is as well, cut the crap and go take a shower._ He told himself as he opened the door and snatched a… decently clean towel from the foot of his bed with him.

On his way to the bathroom, the chilly air reminded him of his dreams, the icy cold fingers around his neck and the hands trailing up and down his body. It wasn’t just _vivid._ No, it was… amplified, like the other three he’s had this week. Ever since his last discussion with Bill in his wrecked dreamscape, the demon has been refusing the offer of a meal. He turned his yellow bricked self away from the boy’s nightmares and allowed them to run their course through Dipper’s damaged psyche. They’ve proven to be highly destructive and unbearable due to their detail and their length it has become increasingly difficult to determine what was a nightmare and what was reality. Dipper felt like he’s lived many lives in those fucked up nightmares. To the fractured mind, whatever happened in them, happened to _him_ , even if that sounded ridiculous.

Dipper Pines was going mental, and he knew it. Whatever part of his mind the demon burned into a crisp was profoundly affecting how he functioned. Whether his descent could be turned off or stopped, the boy did not know. Oh… he would feel safer if the demon wasn’t an enemy and instead an ally. As their relationship stands, they were still, _very much enemies_.

_Okay what else happened?_ Dipper asked himself as he gently brushed the bandages wrapped around his neck. _Oh… right_. It’s been a week since the incident with his mother. Sherry Pines had to be put into a mental institution despite the fact her records showed no sign of any severe diagnoses, and even when they tested her, she showed no signs of anything they suspected, such as Dementia, Schizophrenia, or Borderline Personality Disorder. His mother was completely healthy and supposedly sane, yet she’s sitting in a padded cell because of him.

The brunet found trouble swallowing his saliva as he leaned up against the bathroom door, his mouth was overflowing with it, thanks to the vomiting. The more it carried on, the vomits, the cold sweats, the saliva overflows, the more Dipper grew to dislike his body. It wasn’t something to do with sex or anything like that, the boy, even though in his pubescent age, had no time for such trivial pleasures. No, he found the human body itself disgusting. Had no one ever taken a moment to consider how they worked? How all the meat under a thin layer of skin and fat functioned? All of the dangers inside of themselves that they haven’t yet realized? All the years of work it took to create a single human? All the years it took for humans to learn how to distill wine and germinate beer—gosh _darn_ how do alcoholics deal with this form of torture and why do they applicate it to themselves for enjoyment.

A small nagging sensation pulled in the back of his mind… he was getting too far from the jar, it wants him to go back to it. _Shut up_ he told the feeling as he opened the door and turned on the light with his hand holding the tiny dream demon. The feeling pulled again as he locked the door, ripped off his clothes, and stepped into the shower. _Shut_ “… up.” He told it as he turned on the tap, turning the heat as high as it could go.

…

The scalding water was an effective alarm to wake up to his nerves. Dipper snapped to attention as he adjusted the temperature to one less… harmful but still hot enough to _burn_ the disgusting grime that stuck to his body and the slick his sweat on his skin. It was a pleasure to shower. Letting the water hit Dipper’s stiff frame and relax his shaken joints and tense muscles. It was indeed a treat, and he couldn’t believe he found this time consuming a year and a half ago.

The boy who still wore his bandages into the shower groaned at the sudden realization of the wet fabric around his neck. A sigh passed his lips as he pinched the clasps and undid them, setting the metal on the side of the tub. Dipper’s lousy hygiene was the result of forgetfulness if the wet bandages weren’t an indicator. His mind was always elsewhere, be it in a book or in his thoughts, Dipper was still busying himself with _something_. He neglected the hours of sleep he should have had and missed the opportunities to shower without disturbing anyone’s rest, due to his constant nail-biting worry that something terrible was going to happen. That a repeat of what happened with the cheerleader will occur. That someone will hop through their bedroom window and try to kill either him or Mabel in their sleep. While that wasn’t it before, as it was so much more innocent; the usual culprit was TV shows and cartoon marathons. Nowadays he fears that he’ll have to kill another influenced human, solely because there was nothing else Dipper could do to prevent an accident from happening without casualties if he did try another way.

A soundless puff of air slipped past his lips as he leaned up against the shower wall.

Today, they were leaving California for Gravity Falls, which wasn’t a bad thing, Dipper was quite excited to see Melody and Soos. The two lovebirds had gotten Married only a month back. He was more than happy for the couple if just a tad disappointed he wasn’t able to attend their wedding due to the calamity that went down last month for the twins. From between life or death situations and constant paranoia, they must have told him about their wedding plans and invited the twins to come but… both must have forgotten it. Amidst the depression, the fear, and the suffocating threat of death looming over them, they have entirely overlooked Soos’s big day. Just like his horrible father. Well, some friend Dipper turned out to be, even if Soos reassured him that he wasn’t upset, the boy was upset with himself. His friend’s voice came to mind, _“It’s best not to think about it.”_ Imaginary Soos told him… Where had he heard that?

…

What was he doing with the sleeping body of Bill Cipher in the shower and when did he bring the demon into the scalding hot water with him? How long was he holding onto Bill? Dipper was having trouble remembering exactly when he picked the demon up.

His eyes ran over the small body of the once powerful and almighty dream demon who destroyed universes and flayed humans alive. The mass murdering narcissist rested atop Dipper’s palm like a small— _adorable_ —prize. The brunet smiled to himself as he poked the black bowtie, watching it shift under the weight of his index finger. Bill was in such a helpless state.

He might as well give Bill a shower as well. After all, there is only so much a wet cloth could do to remove dirt. This demon needed a thorough cleansing.

With soap.

✦✦✦

_‘What do dreams about killing people mean?’_

It wasn’t a deep or philosophical question but, it was a personal one for Dipper. With all the nightmares, he’s been having, the boy had begun to worry their context and had been debating whether he should seek help or not. So, before they had to leave for the bus to Gravity Falls, Dipper searched for an answer on his laptop.

What he’s learned so far was that he was a very angry person, according to several online articles and discussion boards they were usually the dreams of someone with repressed feelings or have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Dipper learned that the murderous dreams he’s had meant that he was angry at them or himself. That his relationship with them was unhealthy and he needed to cut ties with them…

What utter bullshit, Mabel was his sister— _his twin—_ there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her. Whatever those nightmares were, this analysis of it was _wrong_ in every aspect. He wouldn’t abandon her, and she wouldn’t abandon him, they shared a womb together, they came into this world together, from the very beginning Dipper was meant to protect her. If in his sleep he saw her dead and thought she was, it didn’t mean their relationship was toxic, it meant he was concerned. That he worried for her and that he was right in feeling sick every morning or when she leaves his side.

The boy scoffed and scrolled down the blurb to read the next one about him becoming the victim in his dreams. Which, of course, there was only _one_ “person” in his dreams that would brutally maim him and gleefully disembowel him. Obviously, it was Bill Cipher, and because it was Bill Cipher, this article was wrong once again. Those putrid nightmares of him being cut open and toyed with? Being tortured until Bill was bored? _Those_ were supposed to symbolize betrayal. That he was hurt by _Bill_ and that them murdering you meant the memory of them is _“killing you”_ inside.

Yeah, well, the only thing Bill has betrayed was the promise that he was going to beat Dipper’s ass and turn him into a hand puppet. And as anyone can see, Dipper’s ass was still intact.

Besides, betrayal required trust… something he never had with the demon and something he had with Mabel and since his nightmares that involved his death was not orchestrated by his sister. Bill was wrong. _‘What’s your sister done for you, lately? How many times have you sacrificed for her, huh? And when has she ever returned the favor?’_

… The demon never said that.

The boy decided enough was enough, this website and reflection on his nightmares were taking a toll on him. Dipper closed the laptop and tapped a tune on the machine while he gazed at the stuffed suitcase. He was finished packing what he needed. His dull eyes shifted to the yellow demon lying dormant in his terrarium.

…

Something was terribly wrong, and he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. His memory blanked as he tried to recall what he was doing… when nothing came to mind, Dipper got out of bed with the laptop in hand, he figured that it was about time for him to pack up and join his sister downstairs, he’s been dilly-dallying long enough, he shouldn’t keep her waiting.

✦✦✦

The bus ride to Gravity Falls was just as he remembered, several hours of expansive farms and thick forest trails. It was beautiful and calm, with nothing but pine trees and mountain rocks surrounding them. Halfway through the ride, after they left the city of Piedmont, Dipper found himself sitting alone as Mabel had taken up her own row of seats to sleep on. Which wasn’t a big deal to the bus drivers or any of the other passengers, mainly because there weren’t many people riding on the bus with them. After all, it was still Spring and Summer was months away so most students would be studying rather than with family on trips to the middle of nowhere.

For the first half of the quiet journey, Dipper read his book to keep his mind off the stinging sensation in his temple, which must have been a result of his nightmares and lack of sleep. When the pain became unbearable, he closed his book and decided to turn his attention to the few passengers that accompanied them. One, because he had to make sure they don’t do anything to his sleeping sister and two because he could tell some of them weren’t human.

A rather striking albino sat in the front with someone who _should_ be familiar, but Dipper couldn’t quite pinpoint where he had seen the pale-skinned raven-haired teen that sat next to the Albino. One thing he had noticed was that the blue-eyed teen found him and Mabel familiar, glancing at them every now and then with a shy smile, but never speaking to them, even when Mabel approached him. Now, why did Dipper focus on these two? Well, they weren’t human. Dipper could see exactly what they were and while one of them was more disturbing than the other, the albino being a humanoid figure of churning blood and the other, a living ball joint doll. Despite the cause for concern, the two stayed away from them, never showing above mild interest with Dipper’s curious gazes. Other than the friendly waves and soft smiles and the albinos one sentence responses to Mabel’s question there was nothing of note with them. They went about the ride reading books, exchanging words with one another, and cuddling, a display of public affection that made Dipper’s face heat up. After several hours of them doing nothing that was incriminating or harmful towards him or Mabel. He began to crudely doodle their true forms in his flimsy notebook and took as many notes as he could derive from their subtle actions. Over the hours, their voices became muted by the sound of the bus running over the gravely road, and the noise of its engine dully purring in the background. The brunet enjoyed his time studying them, it’s always been an interest of his to observe these strange creatures, but halfway through recording which one drank water and which one didn’t, his headache returned full blast.

It was far worse than any of the attacks he’s had this month, far more violent and much more _devastating_ , like his head had been placed under a steamroller and was being run over with the slow-moving vehicle. Splitting his skill open and allowing his soft brain to be exposed to the elements as his blood pooled around his body…

Dipper rarely got car sick, and when he did, it was because of Stan’s driving. Yet, not even an hour had passed since he finally filled his stomach with _something_ , a small snack that shouldn’t have brought upon this hard-hitting wave of nausea.

_‘Don’t worry, brother. Whatever happens, I’ll be right here, supporting you.’_ Said Mabel.

“Thanks, Mabel.” It was nice to hear her reassuring words because Dipper really needed them right now. Everything felt awful, his body betrayed him, his stomach wasn’t allowing him to move. The feeling threatened him that, if he dared to shift out of the bent position he was in—clutching at his own stomach—vomit would spew like a high school science project gone wrong.

His throat burned with acid as it clogged up and made swallowing difficult, and the taste of bile on his tongue had his mouth salivating in retaliation. At this point, Dipper was _more_ than just _dizzy_ , his head felt like a pin cushion. It was as if someone had taken a thousand sewing pins and began to jab his brain with those sharp, metal sticks. On top of that, there was also that _strange_ sensation in the very far recesses of the boy’s mind, he could hear something prodding like an alien trying to break out of his skull— _squish, squish, squish, shlurp, squish—_ or more likely, _burst_ from his eyes. It pushed and shoved, pulsated and paused every now and then— _teasing_ its escape while not attempting to follow through with it. A part of the boy wanted to scream for it to be done with and leave through his eye, while the more self-preserving part of his brain begged for it to stay locked away.

Tears welled as he tried to keep his body in check. Pathetic whimpers left his lips in response to the discomfort he was feeling.

“Hey, are you okay?” Dipper glanced up expecting help but found himself greeted by the humanoid figure of blood. He jerked away from the _thing_ and slammed himself against the side of the bus. Whatever was happening, he wasn’t a fan of, why was this hellspawn concerning itself with him? “Riri, can you get the paper bag for this boy? I think he’s having a panic attack.”

They were going to suffocate him with a paper bag!

“No! Don’t touch me, leave me alone!” The boy shouted. He caged his head with his arms in a feeble attempt to protect himself.

_‘A WINNER NEVER RUNS AWAY FROM A FIGHT!’_

“This isn’t a fight, Rumble!” Robbie was dead, he had to stop his creation from sending this teen to his parents as a cadaver. He shouldn’t have lied, he shouldn’t have gotten jealous of such a _dumb_ thing like love. Wendy was going to hate him. His breathing picked up, and he could feel his stomach turning and his mouth overflowing with saliva. It leaked out of the corner of his open lips as he panted and gasped for air.

“Dipper?” Mabel’s voice snapped the boy out of his trance. He glanced up at his sister who was staring at him with wide, concerned eyes. The boy scrambled upright and wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth as he met her gaze with dull unblinking eyes. She nervously asked, “Dipper who’s Rumble and what happened? Are you okay?”

Was he okay? No, he wasn’t in the slightest, he had no idea where they were and what was happening—both around him and in his head. He grabbed Mabel’s arms and sobbed, “This is crazy…” Dipper said as he heaved a breath, “I’m-I’m losing my mind. We have to get out of here. We have to go back… to—”

What was he going on about? Why were there waffle guards in his memory? Why were they not here pushing him to the ground for disobeying the law?

Mabel caressed his cheek and closed his gaping mouth with one hand, forcing the boy to breathe through his nose. For the first time in forever, she steeled her gaze and leveled with her brother, saying, “Dipper. We’re on a moving bus. We have nowhere to go if we get off now, so please, _get it_ together Dip-Dop. Tell me what’s wrong, do we need to see the doctor?”

No, he doesn’t like doctors, no more doctors. He swallowed the sick feeling in his throat, happy that the nauseated feeling had finally receded. He tried to put on a smile for his sister before sliding out of her grip. “No doctors, go back to sleep Mabel, I’ll call Ford and talk to him.”

“Are you sure?” Mabel asked, unconvinced as her younger brother settled into the bus seat seemingly complacent now that she spoke to him. Dipper wore a coy smile as he picked up his book and began reading it once more, reverting back to his original state before his panic.

The albino in his humanoid form came back with a paper bag and placed it on the seat beside the young brunet who eyed the paper bag with curious eyes. What was the purpose of giving him a paper bag? If it was for car sickness, the brunet felt fine. He glanced up at the moving blood figure who nervously played with his beige cardigan. Did his staring make them nervous? “Thanks for the bag but I’m fine.”

“Keep it, I insist.”

Was his behavior that bad? “It’s just a minor headache, I’m-I’m sorry if I worried you.”

The stranger nodded his head and slowly backed away from Dipper to join up with his companion. Who was looking somewhat concerned, yet when they sat down together neither of them spoke of Dipper’s behavior. Instead, they spoke about the raven-haired boy’s younger sister Luce.

Oh, so that’s where he’s seen the blue-eyed boy.

Dipper’s eyes returned to the page of the book as he took off his glasses and pocketed them in his red flannel chest pocket. The story the ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ was a book Bill recommended to Dipper, back when he was teaching him how to prepare the demon’s summoning ritual.

Dipper had grown increasingly fond of the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up rewriting a lot of the first portion of this and oh my lord, let me tell you, I am not proud of past me. By no means am I a good writer but Jesus... just Jesus.
> 
> You know, it's quite nice just to talk using the endnotes. I've been thinking lately about what it's going to be like to look back on this in a few years from now and how much cringe I'll experience reading through this again, but I think that will be the most enjoyable part of finishing this story besides responding to comments. Reassessing what I did wrong and what I could do better.   
> That said, after editing these old pre-written chapters hopefully I can write some better ones for you guys.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.


End file.
